A court in Malawi, has sentenced a Catholic Priest, Rev. Fr. Thomas Muhosha to 30-year jail term over the killing of a man with albinism, whose body parts he had planned to sell.
The court, president by Justice Dorothy NyaKaunda Kamanga who gave the verdict on Monday, June 27, sentenced the priest along with police officer, Chikondi Chileka and three others to 30 years imprisonment with hard labor on charges of transacting in human tissue.
In total, five people were jailed for life for murdering the man including his brother. Along with the priest, four others received a sentence of 30 years in prison.
The Judge said Fr. Muhosha had planned to traffic 22-year-old MacDonald Masambuka’s tissue.
Masambuka was reported missing in February 2018 and his body was discovered a month later, with the legs and arms removed.
Report says he was violently killed in a graveyard after his brother deceived him that they had found him a potential wife and he should come and meet her.
According to Town Crier News finding, the offence was motivated by the disability of the deceased, that of albinism,’ the Judge said in a ruling handed down in the city of Blantyre.
She said the priest, who led a parish in Machinga, 100 kilometres northeast of the country’s second city Blantyre, had breached the trust many had placed in him, adding that the killing occurred at the height of a spree that saw over 40 people with albinism murdered and scores of others assaulted.
“The convicts took advantage of the deceased psychological need for love,” the judge stated.
“They lured him into believing that they had found a prospective wife for him and that they should go and meet her – that ended up being his death trap.’
The Government Prosecutor in the case, Pilirani Masanjala said he was happy with the judgment.
“It ensures that all the persons who have been found, charged and convicted of all these heinous crimes will face the full arm of the law. So, that is something that for us, as directors for public prosecutions, we are happy to see that the courts are doing nowadays,” Masanjala said
Also, a representative of people with albinism at the court, William Masapi, said the sentences serve as a deterrent to such attacks.
Masapi said: “Because we are also human beings. We need to enjoy life. We have responsibilities in this country; some of us are working in the government taking part in the development of this country. So, people should learn from today that we people with albinism are like them.”
The National Coordinator for Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Malawi, Boniface Chibwana, said the sentence is welcomed, pointing out the need to intensify efforts to stop the attacks on those living with albinism.