By PERPETUAL SICHIKWENKWE –
TWO juveniles have been convicted by the Lusaka High Court for murdering 20-year-old Ngombe taxi driver, Mathews Chipili in 2012.
Mr Chipili, who was operating at Arcade’s Shopping Mall in Lusaka, was found dead on December 20, 2012 in an unfinished structure in Roma Township with peeled facial skin, left eye gouged off and a slit throat.
Delivering her judgment yesterday, Judge Mungeni Mulenga said the two juveniles, aged 14 and 16, murdered Mr Chipili, who they dumped before stealing the motor vehicle he was using as a taxi.
The juveniles had booked Mr Chipili from Arcades to Redmat Lodge but along the way killed him and got away with the vehicle which was later discovered parked at a car park in Chawama Township.
Ms Justice Mulenga said it was not in dispute that the two juveniles killed Mr Chipili and stole the Camry which they wanted to sell for K13,000.
She said that the juveniles robbed Mr Chipili and used actual violence to steal the vehicle from him and dumped his body where it was found.
Ms Justice Mulenga said her court found the juveniles guilty of both the charge of aggravated robbery and that of murder but she could not sentence them without a report from the Social Welfare office.
She said that the prosecution had proved the burden of proof against the juvenile offenders that they killed Mr Chipili.
Ms Justice Mulenga, however, said the prosecution did not prove that a sharp object or that the juveniles had peeled or removed Mr Chipili’s body parts, leaving speculations that his body parts could have been eaten by dogs or cats after he was dumped.
She said that evidence by one of the juveniles, his father and brother that he was home on the night of December 18, 2012 when Mr Chipili went missing was an aftermath because it was only brought up during their cross-examination.
Ms Justice Mulenga said the issue of mistaken identity of the juveniles as claimed by their defence lawyers could not hold because several State witnesses identified them based on different circumstances.
She said that although there was no eye witness who saw the two murdering Mr Chipili, there was circumstantial evidence pointing to them as having committed the offences.
Ms Justice Mulenga will sentence the juveniles on September 12, 2014 after reading the report from the Social Welfare.
The juveniles between December 17 and 20, 2012 jointly and whilst acting together with other persons murdered Mr Chipili and stole a motor vehicle, namely, Toyota Camry registration number AAV 6570 valued at K17,000 property of Basil Hamusokwe.
