POLICE in Linda compound, in Chilanga District, have arrested two people suspected to have poisoned a 51-year-old woman and her tenant’s five-year-old daughter under unexplained circumstances.
Fifty-two-year-old John Mwewa, the husband of the deceased, revealed to The Sun how two men, who worked at his plot as tile fixers, allegedly poisoned the Nshima which his wife, Maggie Mwewa, and the tenant’s child eat and later died.
John Mwewa in the company of his friend Reuben Chilombo at Zambia Agency for Persons with Disabilities:
-Picture by LINDA SOKO-TEMBO
Police deputy spokesperson, Rae Hamoonga, confirmed the arrest of the two suspects and that they had been detained by the police waiting to appear in court soon.
Mr Mwewa said that one of the suspected was arrested as he prepared to flee the area after the two bodies were discovered.
Mr Mwewa lamented Maggie’s death which he said has literally shattered his life.
“I literally relied on her to do everything. She was my eyes, and I am not sure how I will now manage. Her death has made me handicap again,” said Mr Mwewa who is blind.
The Sun: What exactly happened.
Mr Mwewa: My names are John Mwewa. I live and work in Mimosa.
My wife left home to go to the plot on Wednesday morning to have the tiles in the house fixed. But the tiles quickly ran out and the fixers requested her to go and buy some more.
As she was away, the two men prepared relish and later started cooking Nshima. They asked my wife to finish cooking the Nshima when she returned saying that they needed to rush somewhere but would not take long.
As they were gone, my wife finished cooking the Nshima and decided to eat her portion while waiting for the two gentlemen. She also gave a portion to our tenant’s child.
My wife told our friend’s son, who had also accompanied her to the plot, to wait for the tile fixers when he wanted to also collect and eat his share.
The tenant’s child quickly washed her hands and eat his Nshima and before long, my wife and her collapsed and died while foaming from the mouth.
The show tile fixers never returned.
One of the two men, I was informed, had rushed to his house and began packing his clothes, and could not respond when the wife asked him why he was packing his attires. The wife became suspicious and phoned my daughter to find out what was the matter.
My daughter asked the man’s wife what her husband was doing home when he was supposed to be at the plot working but she responded that he had already packed his clothes and left home. We immediately became suspicious.
The Sun: Did you report the matter to the police?
Mr Mwewa: Yes. We reported to Linda police post immediately after the incident happened and they collected samples of the Nshima consumed by my wife and child for testing.
The Sun: Would you have any idea why your wife may have been poisoned?
Mr Mwewa: The problem is that the relationship between people in our neighbours at Mimosa is bad. There is literally no peace at all. We are either quarreling, suspicious of one another or calling one another names.
John Mwewa (husband of the deceased
My friend Reuben Chilombo’s first-born child was recently involved with bad company. He started misbehaving and smoking cannabis. So my friend approached me and requested for help in dealing with the problem about his son.
The latest confrontation was over the detention and whipping of my friend’s son, by the police at the request of his father and I, as a way of discipling him and to stop him from hanging around bad company.
My friend’s 20-year-old son has been spending nights outside his parents’ house for days, just hanging out with friends and indulging in illicit activities.
But our action to take him to the police did not go well with some people in the community. They accused us of reporting their children to the police so that they could equally be disciplined.
That made them endlessly insult us one night and also pelted my house with stones around 23.00hours. We were only saved by the police who later came and apprehended some of them.
On the fateful day, my wife had actually requested Mr Chilombo’s son to accompany her to the plot, in Linda Compound, as a way to keep him busy and away from indulging in illicit activities in community.
He was the one who in fact witnessed her death and that of the little girl.
The victims were buried on Friday, March 8 in Chilanga.
