Chanthunya’s Murder Case to Resume, Court Set Aside Stay Order

The Supreme Court of Appeal has nullified the stay order that was placed in Misonzi Chanthunya’s murder case which was barring the State from continuing with the matter.

Chanthunya is being accused of murdering his Zimbabwean girlfriend Linda Gasa in 2010.

The High Court on October 12 2019 granted Chanthunya’s lawyers a stay of trial which prevented the case from being heard.

Supreme Court of Appeal judge Justice Anthony Kamanga ruled in favour of the State and discharged the earlier order that went in favour of Chanthunya, paving the way for the resumption of the case.

Speaking after the ruling, State lawyer Pirirani Masanjala said the ruling meant that the State was now free to continue with the case.

He said: “The Supreme Court’s decision is opening up for the resumption of the case. It also maintained what the High Court had ordered on July 25 2018 that the lawyer was not eligible to represent the client.”

Chanthunya was granted bail in February 2019 with a K5 million bail bond by a Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal decision after spending seven years in custody in South Africa.

International Police (Interpol) arrested Chanthunya in South Africa’s town of Rustenburg in 2012 after spending two years as a fugitive following the alleged murder of Gasa, a Zimbabwean national.

The body of Gasa was found buried under concrete in a bathroom at Chanthunya’s family private cottage in Monkey Bay, Mangochi.