Maria, 4 others to appear in court Monday
By Thandizo Banda
CHISAMBA farmer Maria Zaloumis, her partner Nathaniel Barthram and three others charged with murder with her will appear for mention in the Kabwe magistrates court on Monday.
Meanwhile, some undisciplined police officers and overzealous officials believed to be from the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) caused a stir when they harassed the journalists covering the matter on the orders of Zaloumis and her four accomplices at at Kabwe High Court.
Kabwe High Court judge-in-charge Kelvin Limbani has ordered the murder accused to be brought before the subordinate court.
Zaloumis and the four others were arrested last month in connection with the murder of 22-year-old Enoch Simfukwe on August 17.
A postmortem examination conducted on Simfukwe’s corpse revelead that the cause of death was blunt force head injury, brain contusion and brain edema suggesting severe beating.
Justice Limbani made the order yesterday during a hearing in the chambers following an application for habeas corpus for the five accused persons.
He said the law demanded that accused persons should be presented before a competent court within 72 hours after being arrested and charged.
“Therefore the court has ordered that the accused persons should appear by September 22, 2025 for mention in the Kabwe subordinate court,” Justice Limbani said.
The defence had earlier made an application for habeas corpus on behalf of the detainees, who had been in police custody for close to a month without appearing in court.
Principal state advocate Paul Kachimba told the court that the five murder suspects had been charged and officially arrested.
Kachimba said the application was served to them Wednesday and they were able to furnish the police with the application which was returnable yesterday.
Justice Limbani directed the State to preempt the contents of the affidavit file and respond later.
The State preempted the affidavit in opposition as the applicants who were all jointly and officially charged and the docket of the case was still with the Director of Public Prosecution for perusal and instructions.
Defence lawyer Keith Katazo contended that it was not in the interest of natural justice to keep the suspects in custody for a long time without taking them to court while conducting investigations.
Katazo insisted that Zaloumis and her accomplices should be heard in court or be released.
Meanwhile, Zaloumis, her four accomplices and their families caused an unnecessary stir at Kabwe High Court when they ordered police to arrest reporters from various media houses who were seen capturing pictures.
But the reporters courageously fought back and resisted attempts to confiscate their cameras and smart phones.
They later sought protection from the provincial high command, which they urged to rein in its overzealous police officers and educate them on the role of journalists.
Some police officers in the company of some officials believed to be from the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) who had accompanied ECZ chairperson Mwangala Zaloumis to court faced resistance from the media personnel, when they attempted to grab the gadgets used in capturing the photos.
Reporters Munambeza Muwanei from Times of Zambia, Chambo Ng’uni from Zambia Daily Mail and Thandizo Banda from The Mast newspaper faced harassment from the families of the accused and officers from the Zambia Police Service and ECZ.
The journalists reported the matter to police in Kabwe seeking protection from further harassment during trial, which begins on Monday.
