Mphwiyo Shooting Case: Kumwembe Says Can’t Miss Target, Asks Judge To Try His Ability In Court

Kumwembe I cant miss my target 

McDonald Kumwembe, suspected shooter in the attempted murder trial of Paul Mphwiyo has told the court that he could have at a 5 metre range, shoot to kill Paul Mphwiyo if he were hired for the job.

Kumwembe was speaking on Wednesday court sitting during his defense in the case he is answering of attempted and conspiracy to murder former budget director Paul Mphwiyo on September 13th 2013.

When entering his defense, the former Malawi Defense Force officer Kumwembe who maintained to deny to have shot Paul Mphwiyo, said him as a well trained soldier and man who worked as a military officer for a very long time could not miss the target at a range of 5 metres as it was the case in Mphwiyo shooting.

“I have worked in Malawi Defense Force for so many years. As it was said by the victim that he was shot at a range of 5 metres, surely if I could be the one shooting, then I could not miss him” said Kumwembe while alleging that the person who pulled the trigger might have been a novice, and further denied his involvement in an enterprise to kill Mphwiyo.

“If you can allow me to have a gun and show a target here in court, I will not miss” challenged Kumwembe

But Judge Michael Mtambo quickly reacted by interrupting him in a joking way saying “We cannot take that risk!” and the whole court was laughing.

Kumwembe

Kumwembe also said, in a situation happened at the time of shooting, it could not happen as testified by the victim that him had a mask on his face while his accomplice Pika had nothing to shield his face.

Meanwhile, his cross examination has been adjourned to dates from 13th to 16th October 2015

Earlier, Kumwembe accused the victim Paul Mphwiyo and an investigator of the present case Kankhwala Chilinda of lying under oath and bringing false evidence against him in the court as he narrates how he became friends of the two and later Pika Manondo.

He said he became friends with Mpwiyo way back in 1999 when him was in Zomba working with MDF as Investigator while Mphwiyo was a Personal Assistant of late Dumbo Lemani and that they had also been meeting in several places. 

But he has accused Mphwiyo of telling the court lies that he does not know him. He revealed that it was Paul who introduced him to Pika Manondo after the two had discussed on a business plan they can do to former ruling party Peoples Party (PP).

He said after their discussion he met Pika at Andiamo in Balaka where former president Joyce Banda was welcoming new members of the party. He said while there, Pika told him that he can work for the party as an Intelligence officer for the party.

Then he quashed almost every evidence brought in the court by Chilinda adding that all allegations against him are based on an altercation they had some years back.

He explained that while based in Zomba working as intelligence officer, he reported to Chilinda bosses on information that Chilinda (working as CID officer in the same district) was lending out his firearm to some criminals. Kumwembe then said, Chilinda was furious and at one point told him that he will one day do revenge.

Kumwembe emphasized that it was obvious that Chilinda brought in the court false evidence against him of being involved in a robbery case which took place in Machinga, and spotting him at Bwandilo on 30th August 2013 the day he (Kumwembe) said left the country for Mozambique. 

The accused person further told court that Chilinda also tendered a false bus ticket allegedly indicating that the accused had traveled to Lilongwe days before Mphwiyo was shot. While showing the document to the court, Kumwembe said the ticket was only indicating the date of 30th August without specifying the year and particulars of the owner of the ticket.

Furthermore, the accused person also questioned Chilinda motive of brining in the court, a gun which had no bearing of fingerprints or any evidence that it was used by him in the shooting.

“By bringing that gun here, what exactly did Mr. Chilinda tried to portray my image to the public and reporters here in court?” asked Kumwembe

Kumwembe said it was apparent that following their past clash, nothing would have stopped Chilinda from fabricating evidence against him and further accused the investigator of doing try and error sort of investigations in the present case.

Cross Examination 

During Cross examination done by Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Mary Kachale, Kumwembe was so defensive in his responses and was in several occasions answering questions in a form of a question back to the DPP. 

At one point the Judge counseled him to be serious “This is a serious business Mr. Kumwembe” said the Judge when he responded to the question from DPP of why he is so famous in the township of Ndirande in Blantyre by asking: “How could I be so famous in Ndirande? If were famous then don’t you think I could have been a parliamentarian for the area?”

DPP also centred her questions around the alleged travel to Mozambique in 2013 during the period Mphwiyo was shot. Kumwembe said he left his cell phone simcard to his brother currently living in South Africa to make contacts with persons he was doing businesses with.

However, his phone call logs at that period were indicated that the sim was being used by the said cousin in almost all places that Kumwembe used to go including at Bvumbwe Township where Kumwembe girlfriend lived and could be in a call with the girlfriend for over 20 minutes.

But Kumwembe response was that he could not control such situation and also said he could not remember any place he stayed in three separate trips he travelled to Mozambique.

McDonald Kumwembe is a first accused person in the case of attempted and conspiracy to murder Malawi’s former Budget Director Paul Mphwiyo at the gate of his house in Area 43.

Kumwembe who was identified as a shooter was found with case to answer on conspiracy and attempted murder together with second accused person Pika Manondo. The third accused who is a practicing lawyer and former Justice Minister and Attorney General, Raphael Kasambara was found with case to answer on conspiracy. 

The shooting of Mphwiyo was the genesis of numerous arrests on calculated theft of government money at Capital Hill.