By Mwaka Ndawa
FORENSIC pathologist Dr Luchenga Mucheleng’anga has told the Lusaka High Court that the late Dr Tasila Tembo sustained a broken jaw and the cause of her death was blunt impact trauma to her head due to assault.
The court also viewed raunchy videos which murder accused Nigel Mwaba received on WhatsApp from different women and his deceased lover Dr Tembo.
This is in a matter where Lieutenant Mwaba, an army officer, is accused of murdering Dr Tembo between October 24 and 26, 2020 after she decided to end their relationship.
Testifying before judge Wilfred Muma, Dr Mucheleng’anga said he conducted a postmortem on Dr Tembo’s body at the request of the police in 2020.
He said Dr Tembo’s corpse was in a decomposed state but he went ahead and conducted external examination and noticed she had bruises on the upper forearm and her chin.
Dr Mucheleng’anga said he stripped off the skin in search of other injuries.
“During examination, I noticed a cut on the lower jaw of the deceased and the cut had sharp edges. I removed the skin from the face, the lower jaw was broken at the point where it attaches to the head,” Dr Muchelenganga said. “Internal examinations revealed external decomposition of internal organs including the brain. Upon completion of the examination, I came to a conclusion that the cause of death was blunt head trauma to the head due to assault. Based on the size of the bruise, it is clear or possible that the cause of the broken jaw may be as a result of a blunt object which was used to hit the deceased.”
Bernard Fundi, a forensic computer analyst, said he advised police officers at Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe to retrieve information from Lt Mwaba’s mobile phones that would be of evidential value in Dr Tembo’s murder case.
He said he retrieved WhatsApp images and videos, messages and other recordings.
Fundi tendered in some raunchy pictures and videos retrieved on Lt Mwaba’s phones as evidence which were viewed in court.
The pictures depicted women’s genitalia while some of the videos depicted women fondling their labia and love making.
Among the videos were those of Dr Tembo fondling her breasts whilst reassuring her love to her estranged lover Lt Mwaba.
“We may have our own differences but know that I love you,” she said.
In another video, the deceased paraded herself in front of the camera, removed her animal print dress and flashed about her green waist beads and black knicker.
“Hey… I just wanted to show you what am wearing at work,” she said and proceeded to undress.
Brigadier General Dr Bernard Kapatamoyo, a commandant at Mainasoko Military Hospital, told judge Muma that he and two provosts (military police officers) apprehended Lt Mwaba at Leopard’s Memorial Park after he was spotted patronising her burial pit.
Dr Kapatamoyo said he was tipped by his sister Kafinda Mulenga who works at Memorial Park that Lt Mwaba was frequenting the burial site and that she had called Woodlands Police Station but there was no quick response from there.
“My sister said the man had gone to the mall and came back. She had compared pictures on social media and noticed it was him. The police at Woodlands did not pick up so she called me and I picked two provost officers and we went to Memorial Park,’’ explained Dr Kapatamoyo. ‘’My sister called me saying Mwaba had noticed their presence and was walking away from the grave yard using Twin Palm Road entrance. The provost officers disembarked and pounced on Lt Mwaba. I approached them, I searched him and he had no weapon but only had beer and a bottle of unknown substance which was handed over to the police. Whilst trying to put him in the vehicle, police officers arrived. We left him in police custody and I wrote a brief to my commandant about what happened.”
Dr Tembo’s aunty, Pheddy Miti narrated that in December 2017 the former introduced her to Lt Mwaba as her lover.
She said in 2018 Lt Mwaba moved into Dr Tembo’s home and they started cohabiting but that she did not approve of them living together without following procedure.
“I got concerned and sat down my daughter and counseled her about her decision to cohabit with Lt Mwaba. I directed her to tell him to organise his people so that we could convene a meeting for marriage negotiations and charge him for the bride price. But she declined saying he was a drunkard, he abused her verbally, and was a possessive lover,” Miti said. “On October 23, 2020, I received a phone call from Tasila who said ‘aunty I’m fearing for my life, I’m dying. I have told Mwaba that our relationship should end but he doesn’t want saying if I can’t have you nobody will have you and you don’t deserve to live’. She pleaded with me to go to her house and talk to Nigel. At 16:00 hours she sent her cousin Katongo to pick me up and I went to her house.”
Miti said when she got home, she did not find the pair and since she was exhausted, she decided to have some rest and instructed the house helpers to wake her up the moment the pair returned home.
“I woke up at midnight and asked one of the workers if Tasila had returned home and she said Tasila had returned home but she had left. I scolded them for not following my directives and I went back to bed. At 05:00 hours I called Tasila but her phone was off around 05:00 hours. I asked her mother to call Tasila and Nigel picked up and said Tasila was bathing,” she narrated. “I called Tasila’s line after 30 minutes and it had been switched off. I called her brother Lonjezo who told me that the couple had forsaken him at Total filling station in Ibex after Mwaba tricked him to go and buy bread and some beers. I went to Arakan Barrack so that we could be helped to locate Mwaba as he was the last person to be seen with Dr Tasila.”
The witness said whilst waiting for a response from the Army, she received a phone call from the police informing the family that police officers had picked up a corpse of an unidentified woman.
“We went to the police, I identified her and my family members started crying. She was clad in an orange t-shirt, blue jean and was decomposed. Tasila’s corpse was wrapped in a black plastic bag and partially buried at a traditional burial site in Nanking Army Training Centre in Mikango Barracks,” said Miti. “We found a head woman who said the villagers had picked Tasila’s corpse and took it to the graveyard as they feared that dogs would feast on her body.”
And Wilfred Simundo, an employee at Bwile Guest House in Mazabuka, told the court that Lt Mwaba abandoned an Isuzu twin cab at the guest house and that he reported to the police, and the vehicle was later picked up.
Trial will be concluded in Mongu on June 20 and 22. This is owing to judge Muma’s appointment as Mongu resident judge.