[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 30


MALAWI:

Murderer gets death sentence


A man who murdered a butcher man before robbing him off K9,000 was last
Friday sentenced to death by the High Court sitting in Mzimba.

Michael Khonje of Zinema Village, Traditional Authority Mtwalo in Mzimba
was found guilty by a unanimous decision of a 12-member jury at the end of
his case which attracted scores of spectators in the public gallery.

Khonje had pleaded guilty to the offence, however, stressing his
accomplices who are still at large, were the ones that played an active
role in killing the victim, Willie Mhone.

The court heard that Mhone, 37, who also hailed from Zinema Village, was
lured by Khonje to buy his cattle but was attacked on the way by the
former together with five men that stabbed him in the head to death.

In a related development, on Tuesday First Grade Magistrate of Mzimba
Jakaka Nyirenda sentenced a man to 5 years imprisonment and hard labour
for raping a 24 year-old lady at Mzimba.

In mitigation, Griffin Ndowera, 22, of Mabaso Jere Village, Traditional
Authority Mmbelwa in Mzimba, asked the court to be lenient in passing a
sentence saying he was an orphan and had three children who would be
helpless without his care.

(source: The Nation)