By ETAMBUYU SANG’ANDU and PERPETUAL SICHIKWENKWE –

A KITWE resident has testified in the high court how his car was involved in an aggravated robbery in which K1.3 million was stolen from Standard Chartered Bank in Kitwe.
This is in a case in which Fred Kaonga, 35, Christopher Chansa, 34, Benson Mwansa, 24, Peter Kasongo, 42, and Jocob Mfula, 29, are charged with aggravated robbery after they allegedly entered into an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) room at Standard Chartered Bank Obote branch on January 12, this year.
The five accused persons while armed with offensive weapons allegedly stole K1, 377,590.00 cash.
Happy Simpamba, 32, told the court that on February 12 this year, Mfula borrowed a car from him around 15:00 hours, to run an errand and promised to be back after a few minutes.
He told the court that to his surprise, the accused took long to come back and only showed up around 19:00 hours.
Mr Simpamba explained that on January 29, he received a call from the police, informing him to report to the police station because his car, a Toyota Noah registration number ACT 9262 was used in a robbery and as such had to be surrendered to police.
During cross examinations, he told the court that he knew the accused as a friend for more than eight years.
The matter was adjourned to a later date for continued trial.
Meanwhile a Lusaka magistrate court has ordered authorities at Kamwala Remand Prison in Lusaka to investigate allegations by an Angolan suspect that he is being mistreated by his fellow inmates and by some prison officers.
Principal magistrate Obister Musukwa has demanded that a comprehensive report be submitted to him on the findings of the investigations.
Wilson Rodrigas, who was charged with theft, complained to Mr Musukwa when he appeared before him that he was being mistreated by fellow inmates and some prison officers.
Mr Rodrigas alleged that his fellow inmates would beat him up, strip him naked and stick his head in the toilet.
He also told the court that one of the officers demanded K100 to guarantee his safety and protection, while the other demanded K30 from him for talk time.
After his complaint, Mr Musukwa ordered the prison officer-in-charge Samuel Kapandula to respond to Mr Rodrigas’s allegations.
Mr Kapandula said he was aware of Mr Rodrigas’ complaint except the part where officers asked for money from the inmate.
He said that investigations into the allegations were already under way.
The State later made an application to have Mr Rodrigas discharged from the theft charges due to lack of evidence, an application the court granted.
But Mr Musukwa advised Mr Rodrigas to go with Mr Kapandula to the prison to identify those who allegedly mistreated him.
Mr Musukwa wondered what the CCTVs that had been installed at the prison were used for if they could not be used to detect such happenings.