By GRACE CHAILE
THE Lusaka High Court on Friday heard that Lusaka lawyer Namweene Kamoto Phiri, who is alleged to have poisoned her son and attempted to commit suicide, told her sister that the child had drowned in the bathtub.
Esther Phiri testified that her sister, Namweene, decided to take a pesticide called Doom after she failed to resuscitate her son.
In this matter, Phiri on February 15, 2022 is alleged to have killed her two-year -old son by administering a pesticide to him and later consumed the same in an attempt to commit suicide.
She, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder.
When the matter came up for defence on Friday, an emotional Ms Phiri described her sister as a loving mother who took good care of her son, Eden.
“She told me that the baby drowned in the bathtub and when she noticed that, she got him and tried to resuscitate him. She tried to pray for him to come back to life, but he didn’t. So, she decided to take Doom, which she had mixed with some Domestos so she could end her life.
“She felt she had no purpose to continue living because the son she was living for was dead,” Ms Phiri said.
She told the court that friends of Nawa Sipalo, the child’s father suggested that Phiri could have poisoned herself and the child when they went to the hospital.
Ms Phiri, however, said that the allegations did not make sense because there was no substance on the boy’s body to show that he had been poisoned.
“I went to see Eden (boy), he was just there sleeping peacefully, no substance on his body. He was clean,” she said.
Ms Phiri, however, testified that Namweene would suffer from depression and that she even sought therapy with a Dr, Folotiya and Psych Health Zambia.
With tears in her eyes, she told the court that Namweene suffered mental, verbal and physical abuse during her childhood at the hands of their late aunt.
Mr Phiri said at some point, the accused even ran away from home to live on the streets.
“She was abused mentally, verbally and physically by my late aunt, who was married to my late mother’s younger brother,” she narrated.
Ms Phiri attested that in 2004, Namwene attempted to commit suicide by taking an overdose of Panadol.
“In 2005, I got married and took her in. During this time, I noticed she was battling with anger issues,” she stated.
