9 December 2008
CHIPATA High Judge Florence Lengalenga yesterday jailed a 22-year-old man of Katete for 20 years with hard labour for brutally killing a two-year-old girl by biting her in the neck and sucking her blood.
Particulars of the offence were that on February 28 this year, Thomas Phiri of Makwenda Village in Chief Mbang'ombe's area killed Margaret Banda by biting her and sucking her blood as she bled.
The court heard that on the material date, the father of the girl, Emmanuel Banda together with his wife and their two children had gone to their maize field in Katete.
After finishing their field work, the father of the baby went to fetch water from the nearby Lupande River while the wife went to collect firewood and left the toddler being nursed by their older son.
While both parents were away, the accused invaded the field, grabbed the girl and bit her on the neck and sucked blood from her until she died.
When the coupled returned to the field, it found their daughter had already died. The couple later searched for the killer who was found near the Lupande River as he was washing off blood from his mouth.
One of the witnesses, Vincent Mainza testified that he saw the convict wash blood from his hands and mouth and heard him shouting for God to forgive him as he had killed a lot of people as a Satanist.
During trial, the accused, who pleaded guilty to the offence of murder, confessed that he belonged to a Satanism cult, which had been killing people in Chipata, Katete and Lusaka.
He told the court that he murdered the girl because he had insufficient blood in his body and wanted more blood to enable him live longer.
In another court, a witness yesterday said that about K1.5 million alleged to have been part of the K1.5 billion that was stolen from Zanaco last year was eaten at her home by rats.
This is in a case in which Dick Tembo, Field Banda, Mabvuto Banda, Harrison Chungu, Moses Mwenya, Peter Tembo and Christopher Njobvu are charged with the murder of Blaston Zimba in an aggravated robbery case involving K1.5 billion belonging to Zanaco Bank.
Ennie Musampuka, 71, who is an aunt of Tembo, one of the accused, told the court that sometime in July last year, her nephew and two of his friends went to her home around 21:00 hours.
She said the following day her nephew, Tembo gave her K10 million to keep for him and another plastic bag containing an undisclosed amount of money which was meant for Tembo's older brother.
"He did not tell me how much was in the plastic bag but it appeared to be more than the K10 million he gave me to keep for him," she said.
She said when she asked where he got the money from, he told her that it was given to him by his younger brother.
She said Tembo and his friends then left and she sent someone to deliver the money meant for his brother, but after 45 days, Tembo phoned her from Lusaka asking for K10 million out of which he gave her K2 million.
She said she then gave K8 million to Tembo's friend who had gone to collect it and that she hid the K2 million under a drum in her home before leaving for Lusaka to see a sick relative.
After three weeks, she went back to her home in Chief Liteta's area and discovered that the money she hid had been eaten by rats except for K20,000 notes amounting to K500,000.
Mrs Musampuka also denied ever seeing a gun with her nephew and that she was shocked when police officers arrested her from a funeral house in Lusaka's John Laing Township asking her for the money and gun that she was keeping.
She said police officers then beat her up saying the person who had led them said she was keeping money and a gun in her home.
Trial continues today.
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