Maravi

Witness fails to indentify late Hang'andu's companion

Witness fails to indentify late Hang'andu's companion
By Joseph Mwenda
Wed 11 July 2012, 14:00 CAT

A witness called to identify a woman said to have been with the late UNZA assistant registrar Joseph Hang'andu who was recently found dead in a room at Inkanga lodge in Kafue, yesterday failed to indentify the suspect. Hang'andu, 64 was found dead in the morning on Sunday July 1, after booking a room with a female companion at the said lodge.

Giving an update on the case yesterday, Lusaka Province police commissioner Charity Katanga said a named witness from Inkanga Lodge failed to identify the woman he saw book a room with the late Hang'andu.

"The identification parade was supposed to take place yesterday or before yesterday, but we were told that the watchman had gone on leave. But it was finally done yesterday and the witnesses failed to identify anyone," she said.
Katanga said police had done their part by allowing an identification parade but it was unfortunate that it did not yield any positive outcome.

"That puts us in an awkward position because the children (to late Hang'andu) are saying they knew this police officer from Chilanga as a long time girlfriend, but this may mean that it was not her who was with him at the lodge that night," said Katanga.

She said the case had now taken a new twist as more questions have since been raised.

"It leaves a lot of questions unanswered, but for us, we will push for advice from the Director of Public Prosecution as to whether we can prosecute such a matter or not," said Katanga.

She also said the cause of Hang'andu's death had already been established.
"As police, we have done our part. As far as we are concerned, a postmortem was done and the outcome was that he (Hang'andu) died from a rapture of the heart due to high blood pressure," said Katanga.

Confirming the incident in an interview last week, Katanga said Hang'andu booked a room at the lodge in Kafue on Saturday June 30 with a woman and was found dead the following morning after a heart failure. "Workers at the lodge are saying Mr Hang'andu booked a room with a woman and they can identify this woman.

They found a cell phone and other 'suspicious things' in the room and when they checked, the last dialed number was linked to a named female police officer from Chilanga police," she said. Katanga said family members of Hang'andu who had two wives attempted to question the female officer but that her office advised them to wait for postmortem results. "A postmortem was conducted and it was established that he died of heart failure due to high blood pressure. The 'things' that were found in the room are being kept in police custody," said Katanga.

Lusaka lawyer Kelvin Hang'andu said police should investigate the matter conclusively to determine the real cause of his father's death. During the burial at Leopards Hill Memorial Park last Wednesday, Kelvin said there were many questions arising from hisfather's "premature" death. The late Hang'andu was a lawyer and former district secretary for Choma and was studying for his Masters' Degree at the African University.

Labels: COURTS, MURDER

posted by MrK @ 8:04 PM