By CHARLES MUSONDA
AN Immigration officer and his four relatives have been found with a case to answer for assaulting his then girlfriend’s uncle after a dispute between the two families. Before Lusaka Chief Resident Magistrate Lameck Mwale yesterday were the Immigration officer Muleta Mutemwa and his relatives Nora Mutemwa, Francina Mutemwa, Goldwin Lufumba, and Mary Mazeze. The five have been charged with assaulting Chrisantius Changwereza, the uncle of Mutemwa’s then girlfriend Elizabeth Mulenga in July 2019.
In his ruling, Mr. Mwale said the State had adduced enough evidence to sufficiently put each of the accused persons on their defence. After the ruling, the accused persons informed the court that they will not call any witness in their defence.
Magistrate Mwale then told them that according to Section 209 of the Criminal Procedure Code, a person who has been found with a case to answer and does not call any witness shall testify there and then, after which he adjourned the case to April 12, 2021 for their defence.
Testifying as a last prosecution witness, Ms. Mulenga, 24, a teacher, said the accused persons assaulted Mr. Changwereza following a dispute between her family and Muleta’s relatives. She said the incident happened in Chilenje South after Muleta spent a night with her at a named lodge.
Ms. Mulenga said the accused persons used fists, kicks, and cooking sticks to assault the victim. She said she was at the scene when the incident happened and that she could not do anything as they attempted to beat her as well. She said after assaulting Mr. Changwereza, they carried him outside the gate and when she followed they pushed her inside the yard.
Ms. Mulenga said after the incident, she observed that her uncle had a swollen forehead, blood stains and complained of chest pains, after which he was admitted to the hospital
