By ETAMBUYU SANG’ANDU –

THE Kitwe High Court yesterday heard how a Kasama man died after suspected poisoning at Sweet Corner guest house in Buchi Township.

Denis Daka, a cleaner at Sweet Corner guest house testified how he found a pen-like object containing some strange particles suspected to be poison in a room which was occupied by a client from Kasama.

Mr Daka, 24, was testifying in the case in which Regina Kabuswe, 48, is accused of murdering Ronald Mwamba on May 10 last year.

Kabuswe, who was in the company of Mr Mwamba is suspected to have given the deceased some poison, Mr Daka told High Court Judge-in-Charge Catherine Makungu that on the material day, he was called by a workmate to check on a client that was unwell.

He said when they knocked on the door, the accused opened for them and when they entered the room, they noticed Mr Mwamba was lying on the bed, vomiting and sweating.

Mr Daka said they also discovered that the deceased apart from sweating and vomiting had also diarrhoea.

He said it was at this point that they made arrangements to rush the deceased to the hospital where he was admitted but later died.

Mr Daka told the Court that later other clients started complaining of a bad smell that was coming from the room where the deceased was lodging and he was instructed by his superiors to clean the room.

While cleaning, a pen-like object with an offensive smell was discovered on the pillow that was previously used by the same couple that had travelled from Kasama.

Mr Daka told the court that the same item was handed over to the police.

And Kitwe Central Hospital pathologist Dr Oga, 47 testified that the postmortem results indicated that the deceased died of poison.

She said the deceased’s stomach contained traces of metal powder and that the liver had shrieked alongside the kidneys.