The Ndola High Court has acquitted four anti-robbery police officers from Mufulira Central Police Station who were accused of killing a fellow anti-robbery officer.

The four officers, Detective Sergeant Jameson Lundu, Detective Sergeant, Waluka Chilombe, Detective Sergeant Ben Siakalundu and Detective Sergeant Marvin Manda, were accused of killing Nason Simbeye, a police officer who was found dead in his house with bullet wounds and an AK-47 rifle in his hand on 23rd October, 2020, at Sikalangwe Police Camp in Mufulira District on the Copperbelt Province.

ZANIS reports that the four officers were arrested and charged with murder following an inquest into Constable Simbeye’s death in the Mufulira Magistrate’s Court that ruled that the police officer did not die of suicide but was murdered.

But following a trial for murder in the Ndola High Court, High Court Judge Winnie Mwenda found the four officers innocent of the charge, citing insufficient evidence that linked them to the crime.

In her judgment yesterday, Dr Mwenda stated that while it was clear that Nason Simbeye was murdered, the prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that it was the four officers who killed him.

She further noted that no fingerprints were taken by police at the crime scene, which weakened the prosecution’s evidence.

Dr Mwenda added that no witness had seen the officers enter the deceased’s house prior to the body being discovered.

She stated that the prosecution had also failed to present proof of the call between Detective Sergeant Lundu and a taxi driver, where the officer was alleged to have mentioned that Simbeye had committed suicide before the body was discovered.

Dr Mwenda stated that the evidence presented by the prosecution was circumstantial and witnesses presented before the court relied on hearsay, as no recordings and call logs linking the officers to the crime were presented.

She stated that the burden of proof lies on the prosecution, which she said had failed to convince the court beyond reasonable doubt that the four officers killed Simbeye, hence acquitted all four of the charge.