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Police Thursday charged Samson Matimati, 25, with murder. He was arrested last Saturday for allegedly butchering two women on September 23 in Lisungwi, TA Symon in Neno.
Matimati was discharged Thursday from Mwanza District Hospital where he was receiving treatment for a gunshot wound on his left thigh after police opened fire to incapacitate him when they stormed his hiding place in Kirk Range mountains, some 10 kilometres from the scene of crime.
According to Sub-Inspector John Namalenga of Police Public Relations Office at Police Headquarters in Lilongwe, Matimati was expected to be taken to Chichiri Prison in Blantyre where he would be on remand pending trial for murder.
The suspected terrorist is alleged to have first attacked and killed Mayi Jose in cold blood, hacking her with a machete and axe before doing the same to Mayi Edna, whose body he later set alight. The motive for the murders was not immediately known, but locals suspect the Matimati must have been high on the illicit drug chamba.
Namalenga said Mwanza District Hospital told him Thursday that the suspect was communicating normally and that there were no signs that he had a mental disorder.
Meanwhile, Mark Katsonga Phiri, MP for the constituency in which the alleged murders took place, deplored the sad developments in Neno and Mwanza districts where gruesome murders are becoming almost the norm.
Katsonga Phiri, who visited the scenes of murder last Saturday, also commended officers from B Company of Police Mobile Service in Kanjedza, Blantyre who were deployed to hunt for Matimati in Kirk Range Mountains where he took refuge after allegedly committing the crime, saying the speed and professionalism with which they carried out the operation was amazing.
“You have done a commendable job in arresting the murder suspect, who was allegedly terrorising people in my constituency. People were living in fear after the incident and now they are relieved the ‘animal’ has been captured,” Katsonga Phiri said as he congratulated the police officers as they were heading back to base from their successful operation on Saturday.
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