Chaloshi ward councilor in Kembe Constituency in Chibombo District Christabel Kalasa has welcomed the arrest and detention of a 36 year old housewife Charity Banda of Fringilla compound for suspected murder of her eight year old step daughter.
ZANIS reports that Ms. Kalasa said in an interview yesterday evening that the community in the area is pleased that police in the area moved in quickly to arrest the suspect for allegedly murdering her step daughter.
Ms . Kalasa said as much as the bizarre murder was shocking, this is the first time such a gender based violence ( GBV ) has taken place since she got elected as area councilor as there are vibrant community protection committees ( CPCs) that keep watch on the community members.
She said it was through these committees that the police were alerted and eventually lead to the arrest of the suspect.
Police in Central Province detained and arrested Banda of her step daughter.
Zambia Police Public Relations Officer Esther Katongo who confirmed the arrest in a press release in Lusaka yesterday explained that the incident started when the husband to the suspect Kennedy Chola aged 35 a welder in Mansa inquired about his daughter but the accused claimed that she took her to boarding school in Mwachisompola area.
Ms. Katongo said the suspect only revealed after being apprehended that she murdered the girl on the 7th of December, 2016 at 17:30 hours after hitting the child’s head against the wall and later stack the body in a sack and buried it in a rubbish pit after burning it.
Ms. Katongo said the suspect also revealed that she buried the body four meters away from the entrance to her house and planted some sweet potatoes on top of the pit to disguise the whole ordeal.
She said the accused was initially picked for pouring hot water on her husband whilst he was asleep in the night and he is now admitted at The University Teaching Hospital (UTH).
She further said the body of the child was exhumed yesterday and a postmortem was conducted and that the remains have been handed over to the deceased relatives who have since buried them.
“She is detained in police custody charged with murder and will soon be slapped with another charge after police officers establish the gravity of injuries suffered by the husband,” Ms. Katongo said.
If the so called community protection committees exist, how come we only hearing about this now? Let’s be serious
The father must also be charged for neglect. I don’t understand violence against children, they are defenseless.
Some acts of madness just leave you speechless.
Naife ba muna ku kwatila kwatila wa kwatila na chibanda
kaleza mukazi uyu ni chibanda
This woman is a danger to everyone around her. After murdering someone, she had the guts of burning and burying and life has been normal for almost a year. The man also must very irresponsible, a child at boarding school which doesn’t close….some parents ni kaya!
The husband could be an accomplice to this murder and/or should have known something about it. Let the Police go further in their investigations.