Malawi Catholic Priest Jailed 30 Years Over Albino Murder

A Malawi court on Monday sentenced a Catholic priest to 30 years and several others to life in prison for the gruesome 2018 murder of a man with albinism.

Judge Dorothy NyaKaunda Kamanga said Thomas Muhosha had planned to traffic in the tissue of 22-year-old MacDonald Masambuka.

“The crime was motivated by the disability of the deceased, that of albinism,” he said in a ruling issued in the city of Blantyre.

She said the priest, who ran a parish in Machinga, 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Blantyre, had violated the trust many had placed in him.

Five other suspects were sentenced to life in prison.

The murder occurred at the height of a spree in which more than 40 people with albinism were killed and dozens more assaulted.

One of the five convicted was the brother of the victim.

“The convicted took advantage of the deceased’s psychological need for love,” the judge said.

“They made him believe that they had found a possible wife for him and that they should go meet her, that ended up being his death trap.”

A total of 12 people received various sentences for the murder.

Since 2014, Malawi has suffered a wave of attacks on albinos, whose body parts were used in witchcraft rituals in the superstitious belief that they brought wealth and luck.