ZAF officer’s murder in new twist

Tue, 21 Mar 2017 12:35:30 +0000

…reports indicate he was assaulted by seven police officers

By Kalobwe Bwalya, Sandra Machima and Bennie Mundando

INFORMATION has emerged that seven police officers from Woodlands police station are behind the death of Zambia Air Force officer Mark Nchimunya Choongwa who was initially alleged to have been beaten by suspects in the cells.

And the body of the officer has been transferred by defence personnel from the University Teaching Hospital mortuary to Maina Soko Military Hospital for possible postmortem today, after initial resistance by the police.

Flight Sergeant Choongwa was detained at the police station on Friday night after a minor road accident in which he allegedly reversed into one of the police officer’s car while reversing in Nyumba Yanga area. The police officer then allegedly mobilized re-enforcement from his colleagues at Woodlands police station to arrest Sergeant Choongwa and the passengers in his car.

Sergeant Choongwa and his colleagues were beaten and then dragged to Woodlands police station where they were locked up in different police cells. The police allegedly took turns to ruthlessly beat him up until he was unconscious. They then threw him in the cells among other suspects.

Due to excessive bleeding from his wounds inflicted by the use of police short buttons, Sergeant Choongwa died in the cells. To cover up the murder, the police decided to take the body to UTH and report that he died on the way after being assaulted by fellow inmates in police cells.

A check at Woodlands police station yesterday, found that the officers are alleged to have transferred the suspects who were in the cells at the time of Sergeant Choongwa’s death from Woodlands police station to Lusaka Central police to create an uncoordinated reports from the suspects on what had transpired, and make it easier for police to charge them with murder. The police are also trying to cover up the identity of the officer whose vehicle was bashed by Sergeant Choongwa’s car and, according to the source, the accident was not reported to the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) nor was the officer’s vehicle taken to Woodlands police. “It is the officers who killed the ZAF sergeant and not the suspects as they are putting it. The officer on duty knows what happened and should be taken to task. Right now, there are four different reports on the same matter. Some of the suspects were transferred to Lusaka Central police station because the police want to create confusion. All the suspects have been charged with murder as a cover-up.  “The police officers wanted to refuse the transfer of the body of the deceased from UTH to Maina Soko Military Hospital but ZAF authorities were adamant and managed to transfer the body,” the source said. Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission has launched an independent investigation into the death of Sergeant Choongwa while ZAF is also said to have instituted their own investigation to ascertain the circumstances leading to death of their officer.

Sergeant Choongwa is survived by a wife and a one -year-old baby girl.