Cop testifies in mum killer case

– A 39 year-old Police Officer has testified in the Kitwe High Court how the body of a woman was found in the Chichele Forestry plantation along the Kitwe –Ndola dual carriage way after her sons allegedly murdered her.

Joseph Kabamba was testifying in the on-going trial of two brothers accused of murdering their mother Ethel Gondwe on April 26, 2014.

The matter was before Kitwe High Court Judge Chilombo Phiri yesterday.

Mr Kabamba was testifying in the ongoing trial in which Emmanuel Katongo Junior and his juvenile 17 year- old brother, of Mukuba Natwange township in Kitwe are accused of murdering their mother Ethel and causing grievous harm to their father Emmanuel Katongo Senior on the material day.

The police officer testified that on the material day in the morning he received a call from Wusakile police station that there was a crime scene that required processing.

He told the court that he and his colleagues went to Mr Katongo’s house and after examinations he observed that there was blood on the kitchen walls and on the floor.

Mr Kabamba said around 10:00 hours he went to the hospital to see Mr Katongo and that whilst there the younger son came to see his father.

He told the court that upon a physical check on the boy’s face he saw some suspected human blood in his ear nodes and on the neck.

The court heard that the boy never said anything when Kabamba asked him where he got the blood from.

Mr Kabamba told the court that he further searched the boy and found him with a Samsung mobile phone which was identified by his relatives as being for his late mother.

He narrated that the younger brother told the police that it was his elder brother that had stabbed his father and that he was the one that abducted their mother to an unknown place using a motor vehicle.

He said the boy later changed the statement and told the police that he did not want to waste the police’s time as he was able to take them to where they had dumped their mother’s body.

Mr Kabamba further narrated that around 20:00 hours on the same day, he received a call that Katongo Junior had been apprehended in Mufulira and was later brought to Kitwe.

The court heard that the next day Police were led by the two suspects to Chichele Forestry  plantation along the Kitwe-Ndola dual road in search of the body for over four hours  before they found the actual scene.

Mr Kabamba explained that the body was found lying facing up and that it had six deep cuts on the head and was half naked with only pants on.

The body was later taken to Kitwe central hospital mortuary and the two accused persons remained in custody for further investigations.

Trial in the case continues.