A 71-year-old woman of village 47 in Chief Sandwe’s Chiefdom in Lusangazi district of Eastern Province has been stoned to death on suspicion that she was practicing witchcraft.
Tiweleko Banda was stoned to death yesterday by people believed to be members of her own family.
Eastern Province Acting Police Commanding Officer Davis Simwanza confirmed the development to ZANIS.
Mr Simwanza said the matter was reported to the police by Ales Nyirenda aged 50, who is the daughter of the deceased.
Mr Simwanza stated that Ms Nyirenda said her mother, who was mentally retarded, had gone missing from her home to an unknown destination at around 22:00 hours on August 6, 2022.
He said after a search for the missing elderly woman proved futile in the night, Esther Phiri aged 63, also of the same Village and the aunty to Ms Nyirenda, informed the niece at around 07:00 hours in the morning that her missing mother was found dead at the house of Davison Moyo within the village.
Police said the woman was killed on suspicion of practicing witchcraft at the house where she was found dead.
Mr Simwanza noted that when police rushed to the scene of the crime, the body of the deceased was found in a pool of blood.
Police further conducted physical inspection of the body of the deceased that revealed multiple injuries on the head and both legs.
He added that preliminary investigations revealed that the deceased was murdered by members of the same family.
Mr Simwanza said police have since arrested Davison Moyo aged 53 years and his two sons namely Samson Zulu 21 years and Whiteson Moyo aged 26yrs, all of Village 47 in Chief Sandwe’s chiefdom.
He said the trio are in Police custody facing the charge of Murder while the body of the deceased has been deposited at Petauke District Hospital mortuary awaiting post-mortem.