Four Police Officers from the Anti-Robbery Department at Mufulira Central Police Station have been arrested in connection with the murder of Nason Simbeye, a 22 year old police officer who was found dead in his house at Sikalangwe Police Camp in Mufulira on 23rd October 2020.
Following an inquest, the Mufulira Magistrate’s court ruled that evidence from the Pathologist and the Ballistic expert who both separately testified that their findings revealed that Constable Simbeye was shot from the back while kneeling, had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the police officer did not commit suicide but was murdered.
The court further named Simbeye’s four workmates namely, Detective Sergeant Jameson Luundu Lubaya, Detective Sergeant Waluka Wallace Chilombe, Detective Sergeant Marvin Manda, and Detective Sergeant Ben Syakalundu as suspects and ordered that they be arrested and charged with murder.
Magistrate Sharon Luhanga said it had been proved that Simbeye was killed from an unknown place, before being transported to his house where his body was found, saying several witnesses testified that there was no pool of blood in the house, adding that his bed and beddings had no blood stains.
She said the presence of a gun from the Mufulira Central Police Anti Robbery Department at the crime scene implicated the officers, as there was no evidence that Simbeye had gone home with a gun on the fateful day.
“A trained police officer would not act in the manner in which you acted when you were sent by your boss to check on Simbeye at his house, and even though you attributed that to mere errors, I find it very suspicious,” Magistrate Luhanga said.
Earlier, the suspects testified that when they discovered Simbeye’s body, they left the crime scene unsecured, as they were in shock.
She said the testimony of a taxi driver, Hezron Sinkala revealed that one of the suspects, Constable Luundu already knew that Simbeye was dead around 07:00 hours, despite the deceased’s body being discovered around 10:00 hours.
Magistrate Luhanga further ruled that the matter be taken up by a police station outside Copperbelt Province, saying the Police Investigations Officer, Chief Inspector, Kennedy Siazyombo was biased in his investigations and ignored clues that would have led him to the deceased’s killers.
Mr.Siazyombo told the court that he forgot to have fingerprints at the scene taken, and did not ask ZICTA to avail the location where a message from the deceased’s phone was sent asking his fiancé for help, saying he had been attacked.
Meanwhile,a Police Intelligence Officer, Nchimunya Mambo testified that following Simbeye’s death the District Criminal Investigations Officer instructed him to collect all firearms from the Anti-Robbery Department due to allegations that they had killed Simbeye ,but the firearms were later returned to them without being subjected to ballistic examination.
Mr.Mambo testified that following collection of the deceased’s body, the four officers insisted that they needed to search Simbeye’s house, alleging that he had stolen money from the police station, despite there being no report of missing money, but abandoned the mission after being informed that the deceased’s relatives were on the way to his house.
Another witness from the Police Amoury department, Inspector Imuksi Mwauluka said in December 2020, the Anti-Robbery Department failed to give an annual report to account for how ammunition had been used.
