Limbe Senior Resident Magistrate court in Blantyre has sentenced Maxwell Mateyu to 14 years in prison over robbery.

The court heard through Inspector John Chigundo a prosecutor at Limbe Police, that Mateyu together with two other accomplices on the night of October 25, 2022, invaded the house of a 71-year-old Hazel Nyamilandu Manda in the area whilst armed with offensive weapons (panga knives).

“The attackers heavily assaulted the victim before going away with 3 DSTV decoders, 2 Samsung Galaxy cellphones, K300, 000 cash and a metal container, all properties valued at K1, 990,000”, said Chigumo.

Mateyu was later arrested by Limbe Police detectives and charged with ‘robbery’ an offence that contravenes Section 301(2) of the Malawi penal code.

Appearing in court, Mateyu denied the charge, prompting the state to parade two witnesses who testified against him, and was later found with a case to answer.

In submission, Chigundo pleaded with the court to give him stiff sentence saying the offence committed is serious in nature and attracts a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Chigundo added that Mateyu’s actions were life threatening as the victim is receiving treatment in a hospital abroad. Chigundo also stated that the stolen items were not recovered.
In mitigation, Mateyu pleaded for leniency saying he is a breadwinner for his family and takes care of his late sister’s children.

When passing judgment, Senior Resident Magistrate Byson Masonga crushed the convict mitigation factors and sentenced him to 14 years imprisonment with hard labour, to serve as a lesson to would-be-offenders.

Maxwell Mateyu is 32-year-old hails from Gombe village in the area of Traditional Authority Thukuta in Thyolo District.