By MAYA NTANDA –
THE Kitwe High Court has sentenced to death three men, among them, a Congolese for brutally murdering a taxi driver and dumping his body at Chingola Road Cemetery.
High Court Judge Isaac Kamwendo sentenced to death Augustine Mbuzakosi, a Congolese commonly known as ‘Doc Papa’, Kelvin Mwamba and Francis Kayombo, all of Kawama Township after he found them guilty of murdering 31-year-old Justine Kaseloki.
The trio was charged with aggravated robbery and murder after they robbed Mr Kaseloki of a Toyota Spacio, registration number ACR 1556 valued at K35,000 on July 2, 2012, murdered him, pulled his tongue out and later dumped his body at the cemetery.
In his judgment, Mr Justice Kamwendo said no one saw the accused persons murder the deceased and that the evidence was purely circumstantial.
He, however, said the circumstantial evidence against the three was overwhelming, had taken the case out of the realm of conjecture and had attained such a degree of cogency which could only permit an inference of guilty.
“It is my finding that the three accused persons formed a common intention to prosecute an unlawful act which ended in the gruesome and merciless murder of the deceased as shown in the postmortem report,” he said.
Mr Justice Kamwendo said an unlawful common design was carried out by all the three accused persons and was satisfied that the prosecution had proved the two counts of aggravated robbery and murder beyond reasonable doubt.
Evidence in court was that during police investigations, mobile phone printouts indicated that the last number on Mr Kaseloki’s phone was that of a security guard from Chambishi.
Police officers approached the guard and further investigations revealed that he had communicated prominently with someone whose name he had saved as ‘Doc Papa’ and that was how the officers were led to Kawama Township.
Mbuzakosi was found seated on the bed in his home, while Mwamba and Kayombo were hiding under the same bed.
The Congolese led the officers in recovering the vehicle in the Democratic Republic Congo (DRC).
Legal aid counsel Ignitius Chongwe, who was representing the three, informed the court that the position of the law was that there would be nothing said in mitigation as the act resulted in the death of a person.