There was chaos in Dowa with people blocking the Dowa Boma- Dzaleka Road and setting ablaze a house belonging to a woman suspected of abducting a five year old girl after the body of the girl was found lying in state on a river bank, a few metres from the suspect’s house.
It is reported that on Friday last week, a five year old girl, Monica Chunga went missing on her way back home after knocking off from Chanju Nursery School.
According to an eye witness who refused to be identified, rumours went round that the girl was being held by a woman residing around the Boma.
This angered some people who on Monday organized themselves, vandalized the suspect’s property and killed her livestock which included pigs and goats, prompting police to fire teargas to quell the situation.
But the situation got worse around 5:20 pm on Tuesday after it was reported that the girl’s body was found lying in state on a river bank, a few metres from the suspect’s house.
Hundreds flocked to the scene and later blocked the road before setting ablaze the house of the suspect. This was before police came and fired teargas to disperse the crowd and restore order.
Dowa Police Public Relations Officer, Richard Kaponda, confirmed that the girl’s body was indeed found in the afternoon of Tuesday, with all parts intact.
He said police had taken it to Dowa District Hospital but would take it to Kamuzu Central Hospital for postmortem to establish the cause of death of the child.
The Police Publicist further said police were hunting for people who had torched the suspect’s house and said once apprehended, they would face the law.
He said so far, police had arrested four people suspected to have vandalized the suspect’s property on Monday and were hunting for those who had torched the house on Tuesday.
Kaponda said the police would wait for the results of the postmortem to investigate the matter.