A 33-YEAR-OLD accountant of Chipata accused of murdering his girlfriend during a sleepover at his residence has apologised to the victim’s family after admitting that he struck her with an iron bar more than three times.
Edward Mwanamuchele admitted in court to hitting his girlfriend with an iron bar after allegedly finding explicit sexual messages on her phone during her visit to his house.
Mwanamuchele allegedly murdered his 25-year-old girlfriend, Rhoda Munkombwe, in August last year.
When trial opened, the deceased’s father, Terry Munkombwe, a police officer at Chipata Central Police Station, broke down when asked to physically identify the man suspected of murdering his daughter.
While Mwanamuchele admitted to striking her with the iron bar following the discovery of the messages, he insisted that he did not intend to kill her.
He apologised to Rhoda’s family before concluding his defence before Chipata High Court Judge Charles Kafunda on Wednesday.
“From the time it happened until today, I haven’t had an opportunity to apologise or to say sorry, of course maybe due to where I am in prison, and there was no way I could make frantic efforts to apologise to the family. If they are here, I would love to apologise,” he said.
“I’m apologising because that was not my intention to do so. It just happened within a flash of a second. I’m deeply sorry. I committed the worst possible crime,” Mwanamuchele added.
He told the court that he hit his girlfriend more than three times with an iron bar within a short period after discovering the messages and receiving a response from her that the texts were from men who were supporting her financially.
He mentioned that the two had been drinking high-proof whiskey together.
They had just emptied one bottle of Monarch and were mixing a second bottle with Jameson.
“Well, we were drinking, and at that point, I think we were so drunk that I lost memory of where I had placed the keys. As I indicated earlier, after finishing one bottle, we were mixing the Jameson, the Belaire, Viscount and Lemond,” Mwanamuchele said.
He stated that he could not find the door keys to his house after the incident until his landlord opened the door with a spare key, finding the deceased lying down and bleeding in the living room.
Mwanamuchele said his landlord called an ambulance upon noticing the injury and later alerted the police.
He added that his girlfriend was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, while he remained behind to change clothes so he could follow her.
However, as he was leaving the yard and closing the gate on his way to the hospital, he was apprehended by police officers after his landlord identified him as the person who had assaulted the woman.
He led the officers back to his house to inspect the scene and show them the object he used to hit the deceased.
Credit: Zambia Daily Mail
