Court begins inquest into death of UPND cadre

Sat, 17 Dec 2016 09:38:59 +0000

BY GWENDOLYN MCHENGA

THE Lusaka Magistrates Court has commenced a murder inquest to establish the would-be killer of a UPND member, Mapenzi Chibulu, shot dead during a protest match after a UPND political rally was cancelled by police in Chawama earlier this year.

The father to the late, Mr Douglas Chibulo, a retired teacher, told the court that his daughter was killed by some unknown police officers.

Mr Chibulo said he was in court because he wanted to know who murdered his daughter so that justice could prevail in the matter.  He also wanted to know why the police officers handling the matter had kept a post-mortem report which could have helped him know what killed his daughter.

Mr Chibulo said it was sad that up to now he was not availed with a copy of the post-mortem report when he was the biological father of the deceased.

Cross-examined by Lusaka lawyer Nicholas Chanda, Mr Chibulo stated that he was hurt to learn that his daughter died at the hands of the police during a political event.

Mr Chibulo insisted that his daughter was shot by a police officer but did not know him or her as there were many officers at the scene at the time.

He explained that on the material day he left home around 07 hours and his daughter even made him a cup of tea. Later during the day around 14 hours Ms Chibulo’s friends informed him that his daughter had been shot dead at the Downtown shopping complex in Lusaka.

He added that he immediately rushed to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) where he was allowed to identify the body.

After a few days a post-mortem was conducted but that up to date the police have kept it from him even after he was told by the forensic expert that the report was ready and that it was in custody of the police.

Another interested party told the court that he knew two people who saw the person who killed Ms Chibulo but that they were scared to come and testify.

It was then that former Chongwe parliamentarian Sylvia Masebo asked the court if the witnesses could be subpoenaed so that they help the court with the information.

And Mr Chanda applied to the court to subpoena the two key witnesses and the application was allowed.

Magistrate Felix Kaoma, sitting as a coroner, adjourned the matter to a later date.