Fri, 19 May 2017 10:11:27 +0000
By CHIKUMBI KATEBE
THE BODY of a young man with a missing ear, private parts and ripped stomach has been picked up in Lusaka’s Zingalume area in bizarre circumstances similar to last year’s ritual murders.
Police spokesperson Esther Katongo said the unidentified body of the man aged between 30 and 35 years old was picked up after a follow-up on an alert by a concerned member of the public.
“This followed a report which officers on patrol in the area received from one of the newspaper distributors at about 02:30 hours that he had seen someone being dragged by some people.
“When officers followed up the report, they discovered blood on one of the roads. They followed the traces of blood and discovered the body of the young man lying in one of the yards.
“The body was found without private parts, with a ripped off stomach and one right ear was cut off,” she said.
Ms Katongo has appealed to anyone missing a relative in the Zingalume area to visit the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) mortuary where the body has been deposited awaiting postmortem.
And Matero Member of Parliament Lloyd Kaziya has assured residents that everything was being done to bring to book all the culprits involved in all criminal activities including the gruesome killings.
Mr Kaziya said efforts to engage the business community in the area have advanced to ensure operations of all Police posts in the constituency to curb the high crime rate.
He explained that money was being raised to procure office furniture and equipment for the operation of police posts in the area.
“The people in these areas are just demonic and there is need to strengthen Christian values among the communities.
“We are making efforts to revamp the neighbourhood security watch scheme throughout Matero and surrounding areas,” he said.
He lamented the recurrence of the bizarre killings when the people had forgotten about it and had moved on, saying “we thought it was in the past now but we are being haunted by these killings again”.
Last year, police arrested suspects in the brutal killings of about seven people murdered in separate incidents and their private parts removed in suspected ritual killings.
The case was still active before the Lusaka High Court and five suspects are on trial, which matter comes up on Monday 22nd May, 2017.
