State applies for two additional counts on Chanthunya case

High Court in Zomba has finished hearing all witnesses from the state on the alleged murder in which Misozi Chanthunya is answering for killing former Malawi College of Accountancy student, Linda Gasa.

Four witnesses including College of Medicine Pathologist Dr Charles Dzamalala gave their testimonies in court on Friday.

The first one to testify was Detective Senior Superintendent, Noel Munthali from Criminal Investigation Department at Police Headquarters in Lilongwe who demonstrated on Power Point through videos and still pictures showing how they received the body of Gasa which was buried inside the cottage of the accused person in Mangochi.

He told the court that it took two days to dig the concrete hole Gasa was buried under.

Airtel Malawi was represented by Jacqueline Phiri who explained to the court on call logs made by the suspect, late Gasa and their relatives on August 4, 2010.

She told the court on the numbers, location, place, time and dates in which such calls were made through call logs.

On his part, Dr Dzamalala, the Forensic Pathologist told the court what he found from postmortem made on September 17, 2010.

“I found two wounds on the chest of Gasa and also found poison substances in her tissues,” he wrote in his report.

In conclusion, Dzamalala told the court that Gasa’s death was due to poison and suffocation.

The last witness for the state was Dacosta Jailosi from National Police Headquarters CID Department in Lilongwe who was the leading investigator on the case.

Meanwhile, the state has applied to amend the charge sheet where the court is yet to make its decision.

According to State Lawyer Steven Kayuni, they have added two more counts to the accused person.

The counts are hindering the burial of the deceased and perjury.

Lawyer for the accused person, Michael Chipeta repeated that all the witnesses paraded by the state have not shown a link to the offense his client is answering.

“The call logs presented are fake not genuine materials,” he said.

Chipeta was very surprised that the state had made an application to make additional counts to his client.

High Court Judge, Ruth Chinangwa adjourned the court to March 2, 2020 where she would respond to the application the state has made.

Chanthunya was extradited back to Malawi on April 1, 2018 after government received communication from South African Interpol to send escorts to collect him.