A WIDOW in Ndola whose late husband's body was exhumed last month following suspicions of poisoning has complained that the family of her deceased spouse is harassing her and wants to grab all her property.

Salome Chanda-Moonga, 35, of Flat 168, Itawa complex in Ndola said her late husband's family wanted to grab all the property left by the deceased, who was a former councillor in Mushili Township.

However, one of her brothers-in-law has contended that his family did not understand why the deceased's shirt was smeared with blood the morning he died.

Ms Moonga's husband, Bruce, died on June 24 this year at the age of 44 years at Ndola Central Hospital (NCH) and was buried at Mitengo Cemetery in Ndola.

But nearly two months after burial, Mr Moonga's family demanded that their relative's body be exhumed and a postmortem conducted to determine the cause of death.

Ndola District police chief, Bonny Kapeso told the Times that the body was exhumed because the family of the deceased suspected that the wife could have caused his death.

Mr Kapeso, however, said postmortem results showed that Mr Moonga had died of high blood pressure.

Ms Moonga said in a walk-in interview yesterday that she did not have a hand in her husband's death.

She said her husband fell ill around 01:00 hours while at home after his blood pressure shot up and he was taken to NCH where he died around 08:00 hours the same day.

"I was surprised to hear on August 25 that my husband's body was being exhumed at Mitengo Cemetery," Ms Moonga, who complained that the husband's family or the police had not informed her that the deceased's body would be exhumed, said.

Ms Moonga went to Ndola Central Police Station when she heard from some onlookers that she was being suspected of murdering her late husband.

She said at the police station, she was informed that her husband's body was exhumed and a postmortem had been conducted.

The police interviewed her and got a statement from her on what she knew about her husband's death.

She said the police informed her after some days that the postmortem results showed that her husband had died from brain damage caused by high blood pressure.

Ms Moonga said her husband's family had traumatised her over their suspicions, adding that they had taken one of her motor vehicles without consulting her.

But Mr Moonga's brother, Milimo said his family did not understand why the deceased's shirt was smeared with blood the morning he died.

Milimo said the family suspected that Ms Moonga should have known who was responsible for hitting their relative which could have led to his death.

He said the family was not after the deceased's property but after justice for their brother.

Milimo said the local court had granted his family the vehicle which they took, adding that the widow was not informed about the exhuming of her late husband's body because the police advised against it.

He said his family was still deciding on their next course of action.