Accused in murder case tells court how he was allegedly tortured by police officers

An accused in the Chikondi Banda murder trial has claimed that he was tortured into confessing and demonstrating the crime by the police.

Nalukui Akafekwa, 27, testified in a trial-within-trial that he was brutally beaten with iron rods and short batons to coerce him into cooperating.

This is in a matter in which Akafekwa of Garden Compound in Lusaka is alleged to have abducted and killed Chikondi, a 10-year-old Grade 5 pupil on March 17, 2023.

The accused was alleged to have dumped the body behind Emmasdale Police Station.

On Monday, the case was constituted in a trial-within-trial to inquire whether the statement was freely and voluntarily given to the police.

Akafekwa told Lusaka High Court judge, Mwape Bowa, that when he was arrested on March 24, he was tortured at Emmasdale Police.

He stated that he was later moved to Lusaka Central Police Station where he was taken into a room which had assorted weapons such as a barbed wire, guns and short batons.

He was allegedly turned upside down or the head facing downwards on the chair.

“The two police officers beat me so hard because they wanted me to reveal the person who sent me to commit the crime. I told them that I didn’t know anything. They were beating me that I admit and say what they wanted me to say,” he said.

He said he was hit on the head with an iron rod which resulted into bleeding.

“They were beating me all over my body using short batons and three of them broke while they were torturing me. An officer named Mr Katongo is the one who used a rod and hit me behind the head,” he stated.

Akafekwa stated that he was then later taken to another room where his statement video and audio were recorded.

Earlier, Detective Chief Inspector, Shabang’ambe Modify Choompo, a scenes of crime officer, testified that on March 28, he conducted a scene reconstruction in which an audio and video was recorded using a Panasonic video camera.

He said the accused who was in the company of his two relatives willingly accepted to give account and demonstrate how the murder was committed.

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