Madalitso Kateta, AfricaNews reporter in Lilongwe, Malawi
A former officer in the Malawi police service, Oscar Msiska, has been sentenced to 11 years imprisonment with hard labour for his involvement in the death of Stumai Mwalwanda of Kalonga district in northern Malawi.
The high court sitting in Kalonga convicted and handed Msiska the 11 year sentence on his own guilty plea.
Mwalwanda died while in police custody last October and an autopsy conducted by Dr Charles Dzamalala at Kalonga district hospital showed that he died after loosing a lot of blood after being assaulted.
Dzamalala noted that the nature of the internal and external injuries on Mwalwanda suggested traumatic assault in the head, chest and abdomen, most notably from a blow and direct trauma such as using a boot.
His accomplices in the murder were expected to appear at the same court on Wednesday. Cases of police assaulting suspects are very common in Malawi.
In 2001 a popular reggae artist, Evison Matafale who was suspected of doctoring a seditious document died while in police custody. A postmortem later also revealed he had died as a result of being assaulted.
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