Six people sentenced to 21 years in prison for robbing Catholic nuns

Malawi: Six people have been sentenced to 21 years in prison by the Mchinji Magistrate's Court for robbing three Catholic nuns at gunpoint.

Prescott Mwayiulipo, a prosecutions officer with the Central West Region Police, told the court that the convicts, namely Kelvin Banda, 21, Madaliso Chikuse, 45, Ronald Chinthunzi, 31, Maliko Chinyama, 42, Mathews Mgona, 32, and George Chipembere, 38, were convicted on three counts of robbery on Friday, 25 June, 2022, each of which carried a sentence of 21 years in prison.

He described the six as storming into Mount Carmel Catholic nuns' convent under Kapiri Parish in May of this year, armed with a K2C rifle and panga knives.

The gang, which included the convent's security guard (Chinthunzi) and a hospital attendant (Chinyama), assaulted the three nuns—a Filipino, an Italian, and a Malawian—before robbing them of laptop computers, cellphones, and K76 000 in cash.

The six pleaded not guilty in court, and the state called nine witnesses to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

The state, on the other hand, asked the court to sentence the six to long prison terms, claiming they had injured their victims during the attack, causing them to be traumatised.

However, the convicts pleaded for leniency in their mitigations, citing ill health and family obligations.

To deter others, senior resident magistrate Eliya Zawanda dismissed the pleas and sentenced the convicts to 21 years in prison for each count.

(Story by Foster Benjamin. Editing by Winston Mwale)