IN what can be described as the most bizarre and gruesome murder a 20-year-old man in Lilongwe Thursday morning handed himself over to police after he cut off the head of a 12-year-old boy who he had picked up a quarrel with.
University of Malawi Chancellor College sociologist Pierson Mtata commenting on this latest incident of a series of gruesome murders said apart from suspected drug abuse which he said has been increasing recently, state of hopelessness and despair due to poverty could also be attributed to the sharp increase of such violent murder cases in the country.
Central Region Police spokesperson John Namalenga said the accused Ben Sanga from Mpingu village, in the area of T/A Maliri in the district allegedly cut off the head of the 12-year-old Thokozani Banda from Mpingu Trading Centre near Chitedze following a quarrel that the two picked.
Namalenga said the incident happened while Banda and several of his colleagues from the area were playing football at Mpingu football ground at around 6 O’clock in the morning.
“Sanga came to disturb the children as they were playing and during a quarrel the 12-year-old boy picked a stone and hit the man. The man chased the boy while wielding a knife and when he got hold of him he cut off the boy’s head,” said the police publicist.
Namalenga said after the incident Sanga handed himself over to police and he was instantly arrested.
“Currently he is in police custody waiting for trial but before prosecution starts he will be sent to hospital for examination to establish his sanity. The body of the boy is at the hospital waiting for postmortem,” added Namalenga.
Mtata in an interview said there were several factors that can be attributed to the current spate of violent criminal activities in the country but said some of the incidents can be attributed to abuse of drugs while others can be attributed to poverty which he said brings a state of hopelessness, despair, disappointment and anger.
“All the cases may not have similar explanation. However, abuse of drugs like chamba may lead to such type of behavior. Substance abuse has become more common these days than before,” he said.
Added Mtata: “If not substance abuse this may have some roots within the society we are leaving in. It could be a result of built up disappointment and anger due to poverty. One may not know when this building up would come out. In this case the cause of the violent action may not be the annoyance that the boy did but the eruption of that built up anger.”
He said this is a result of going into dire situations where one has no hope of where to get the next meal and other neccessities.
Mtata also said some people turn to be violent because of how they have been brought up. He cited orphans who most often grow up on their own and those growing up in single-mother headed households as people likely to be violent.
“When one is growing up on their own even church attendance is erratic, sometimes one does not even attend church and also lack family values which means they lack socialization and do not have a conscious builder. They can do anything,” he said.
Mtata said the solution to the current problem of violent crime is to try to find a way of bringing back the reinforcement of moral values a thing he said can only be achieved through the restoration and strengthening of the role of the church, schools and families.
“These values have crumbled, unfortunately just like a house it takes a long time to build society values but just a short time for the values to collapse. These society values will be built slowly. However, it is still difficult because some people grew up as orphans while others in weak families. How do we bring those things back,” observed Mtata.
He added: “This needs national initiatives. The prisons won’t solve this problem because if we arrest an individual somebody still will come up and commit the same violent crime.”
Recently the media has been awash of various gruesome murder cases. In Lilongwe in a space of a two weeks four gruesome murder cases were reported two in Mchesi and two in Mtandire, where a mother and daughter were killed in a maize garden in a day light murder.
