28/01/2026
Police in Eastern Province are dealing with two separate incidents involving a 12-year-old and a 16-year-old boy of Chasefu and Chipata Districts, respectively, who have taken their own lives leaving their families and communities devasted.
Facts as shared by Eastern Province Police Commanding Officer Robertson Mweemba are that, 12-year-old Lyford Gwayi was left with his sibling, a six year old female juvenile, who according to Police is a special child.
Police say while home alone with the six-year-old, the now deceased 12-year-old Lyford Gwayi injured the juvenile with a door.
Mweemba narrates that, Lyford slammed the door on the six-year-old's middle finger, leaving it swollen.
When the 12-year-old's mother returned home, she learned of what had happened. When Lyford realised that his mother had discovered what had happened, he ran off and went into the field, and suspended himself on one of the trees.
In a similar but separate incident in Chipata, a 16-year-old has taken his own life after his school ordered his parents to buy a case of drinks, as a form of punishment to the boy who reportedly borrowed drinks from the deputy headteacher's office without permission.
According to the brother of the deceased as narrated to Police, 16-year-old Ephraim Twaambo while in Grade 9 at St. Antanazio Secondary School, got drinks from the deputy headteacher's office without permission.
When he reported at school as a Grade-10, the deputy headteacher summoned the child's parents to his office and ordered them to buy a case of drinks, as a form of punishment for what their son reportedly did in the previous term.
When this was done, Ephraim was asked to stay away from school until his parents served the punishment of buying a case of drinks.
This, according to his brother, did not settle well with the teenager who appeared disturbed.
Yesterday, around 07:00 hours, the boy, who had remained with the house maid disappeared from her eyes.
Concerned with how he appeared, the maid started looking for the boy who she later discovered suspended lifeless in a toilet.
Both incidents happened yesterday in the morning, and bodies in the two deceaseds have since been deposited into their respective District Health Facility Mortuaries awaiting postmortem and subsequent burials.
Story credit: TV Yatu January 28, 2026.
