Man found guilty of murdering head teacher

High Court has found Harris Mitati guilty of killing head teacher in Luchensa, George Valani in the wee hours of August 30, in 2006.

The High Court sitting in Thyolo heard that the deceased, Valani—a head teacher at Mikombe Primary School in Luchenza—was found dead 300 metres from his house on the roadside, along the Limbe-Muloza Road.

Initially, it was concluded that the deceased was a victim of road accident and  the clinical results also suggested the injuries he sustained were consistent with road accident.

However, a State witness John Michael told the court that Mitati had told him he had assaulted Valani.

Jones Jimu also stood trial for murder, and told Micheal that  they had assaulted a person as they were coming to his house to sell a goat at 3am. But Jimu later died .

In his determination,  Judge Maclean Kamwambe said he based his guilty verdict  on the testimony of Michael.

But Mitati’s lawyer, Sigere Chirwa of Legal Aid Bureau—who was meeting the accused for the first time—said there were a number of gaps in the ruling, saying that she needs to find out more about the case from the accused.

Sentencing was deferred until next month.

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