A CATHOLIC priest has died after he was brutally attacked near his girlfriend’ home in Ndola’s Pamodzi Township.
On Saturday, residents of the area made a gruesome discovery of Father Deodatus Mbebe, who was at the time unidentified, near his girlfriend’s home, Justina Luchele, a nurse at Arthur Davison Children’s Hospital.
Some members of the public who declined to disclose their particulars to the police found Father Mbebe lying dead with multiple face injuries and a concrete brick beside his body.
They told police officers that on the material day around 21:30 hours they found the body lying on the ground facing upward with multiple head injuries and could not identify him, and further disclosed that they did not hear anything apart from hearing the dogs barking within the neighborhood and reported the matter at Pamodzi VLC Police Post.
Father Mbebe’s body was later picked and deposited in Ndola Teaching Hospital mortuary awaiting identification and postmortem.
And Copperbelt province commanding officer Sharon Zulu said police have picked up Ms Luchele for interrogation to help with investigations.
“Brief facts leading to the identification of the deceased is that on Sunday, 07: 00 hours Muleba Simon, Fibobe ward councilor who happens to be a childhood friend to Father Mbebe received a phone call from Ms Justina Luchele, the girlfriend to the deceased inquiring the whereabouts of the boyfriend.
Upon receipt of the call, Mr Muleba became concerned for he knew that the deceased was at her residence,” she said.
However, the lady explained that the deceased left her place around 16:00hrs while driving her vehicle Toyota Corolla VVTI registration number ACV 8334 silver in colour going to Ndola Bowling Club and never returned back,” she said.
Mrs Zulu said police also found two phones belonging to the priest in Ms Luchele’s home.
She said further investigations also revealed that the lady is a nurse at Arthur Davison Children’s Hospital.
She said the two have been in a relationship since 2002.
“During the search in her house, Police officers found the deceased’s clothes, including the Catholic Robe, shoes, two wrist watches, his portrait photo on the wall, and some documents. This clearly shows that it was more like marriage. But surprisingly, some of her clothes were found parked in a bag, reasons known to herself. Our suspicion is that she wanted to run away after the murder,” she said.
(Mwebantu)