Steve Constantinou is accused of murdering Johanna Martin, also known as Jazzy O, on October 11 and stealing $33,000 worth of jewellery from her.
Mr Constantinou had been facing charges of theft, alongside a murder charge, but a Supreme Court directions hearing into the matter today heard the theft charges would not be pursued.
He has denied any involvement in Ms Martin’s death.
Crown Prosecutor Mark Rochford, SC, told the court he expected the trial to last about three weeks.
Theo Kassimatis, for Mr Constantinou, told the court there were no significant pre-trial issues to deal with.
Mzuzu Police Station Spokesperson Sergeant Maurice Chapola confirmed the death of Bertha Mwamulika Banda of Kankhomba village, Traditional Authority Kanyenda in Nkhotakota District.
In October 2012, Police in Mzuzu also found the dead body of another 22 year old Commercial Sex Worker at Thandeka Rest House at the same Old Town.
Police then arrested 40 year old Staff Sergeant at Moyale Barracks Symon Msowoya on allegations that he strangled the sex worker. Msowoya is currently on bail pending trial but is back to work.
According to Chapola, the woman complained of body pains in the early hours of 1st February 2013 but her friends later saw her at the pub’s counter taking beer in the company of a man believed to be her boy friend.
“It is alleged that…later she disappeared with the man… to Room number one where she was found lying dead the next morning. The identity of the man who was last seen with her is yet to be established,”Chapola said.
A suspected prostitute was on Monday killed by unknown people in Mufulira after servicing her clients.
Mufulira District Commissioner Beatrice Miti has confirmed the death of Charity Kadaka whose cause of death is not yet known.
Miti said Kadaka’s body was discovered by friends in the morning.
Miti said it is suspected Kadaka was strangled and that the assailants also tampered with her private parts that indicated signs of bruises.
She said when they took the body to hospital, they met the deceased’s mother, who identified her saying she stayed in Ndola and not Mufulira.