Longwe planned to murder her husband

Sat, 07 Jan 2017 11:21:18 +0000

By CHIKUMBI KATEBE

 THE State has proved a case of malice aforethought against Precious Longwe after it was proved that she planned the murder of her husband, Kakanda Lubinda Litebele whom she shot in the early hours of May 25, 2016.

High Court Justice Sharon Newa yesterday found Longwe, 30, with a case to answer for the murder of her husband after she was accused of shooting to death Litebele, 33, five times with a hand gun and put her on her defence.

The Judge explained that the State had established a prima facie case against Longwe and  that she had malice aforethought when she killed her husband.

Justice Newa said according to the submissions from the State, there was overwhelming evidence as provided by the Zambia Information Communication and Technology Authority (ZICTA) and other witnesses to show proof of malice against the suspect.

The Court ruled that evidence from the deceased’s brother, Lipimile Litebele and the maid, Theresa Kangwa were sufficient to find Longwe with a case to answer.

The defence lawyer, Osborn Ngoma requested the Court for an adjournment to allow them prepare witnesses for trial.

But later Mr Ngoma informed the court they were not ready to start trial immediately, and requested the court for time to prepare the two witnesses in her defence. Earlier, defence lawyer argued that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to prove the case of malice in the matter against his client.Mr Ngoma said the evidence by the State failed to prove that Longwe shot her husband intentionally, arguing that she accidentally killed her husband in self-defence. He said there was no overwhelming evidence to support the charge of malice, adding that the victim was killed in self-defence. The couple were both employees of Banc ABC, where the accused, Longwe was facing another charge of theft in the course of duty as customer relations officer at the financial institution.