By Chisomo Phiri
The State says will appeal in the Supreme Court against Wednesday’s ruling of the High Court in Mzuzu to acquit Peter Mutharika’s step son Tadikira Mafubza and seven others, accused of manslaughter and aggravated human trafficking of 30 Ethiopian nationals.
Justice Gladys Gondwe acquitted the eight suspects when she found them with no case to answer.
But in an interview with this publication,Director of Criminal Litigation in the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, Dzikondiwanthu Malunda, said the State is not satisfied with the ruling, disclosing that a decision, following consultations, has been made to appeal.
“As a state, we are not satisfied with the ruling and we will appeal against it,” said Malunda.
The bodies of the Ethiopians were discovered buried in a mass grave in Mtangatanga Forest in Mzimba District in October 2022, but all the accused persons denied the charges, and the case went for a full trial.
Mafubza was charged together with Samuel Navaya, Duncan Kalulu, David Luhanga, Thomas Dickson Kazembe, Boniface Ngulube, Aubrey Dukes and Arnold Mwakiyelu.