AFTER an over four year trial, the late ‘Your Health Matters’ presenter, renowned doctor Tasila Tembo, yesterday got justice after her killer boyfriend Nigel Mwaba was jailed for life.
https://www.facebook.com/100064560977290/posts/1040930024735687/
Lusaka High Court Judge Sharon Newa jailed Mwaba, a former Zambia Army lieutenant, to life imprisonment after establishing that he brutally killed his lover, who was 47 at the time in 2020.
Judge Newa said in a judgement she read from 11:30 to about 16:00, that Nigel, who was 33 at the time of the offence in 2020, planned to murder Dr Tembo.
“I have established that Nigel Musonda Mwaba hit Dr Tasila Tembo in the jaw, which was struck in three places and she consequently died,” the judge said.
The court found the prosecutions’ evidence, through a pathologist’s testimony and report, proved beyond all doubt that Mwaba killed the physician after hitting her with an blunt instrument which left her jaw cracked.
Because of that impact, it was established that the Dr Tembo’s brain even shook before she later died.
This is in a 2020 case in which
Mwaba was charged with the murder of Dr Tembo between October 25 and 26, 2020, after a passionate dispute.
Dr Tembo’s body was discovered in a decomposed state near Mikango Barracks after the victim went missing for some days
Mwaba, who fled at the time his lover went missing, was later apprehended at Dr Tembo’ s grave a month after she was buried at Memorial Park.
After killing his lover, Mwaba, drove to Mazabuka in her Isuzu and hid at a lodge before he later returned after Dr Tembo’s burial.
When he first appeared in court around 2021 after his earlier arrest for murder, Mwaba appeared before Judge Wilfred Muma, and denied the allegations.
After all witnesses testified and the case was closed, Judge Muma was dismissed from office by the President prompting the transfer of the murder case to Judge Newa.
The case had to start afresh before Judge Newa who heard testimonies from over 20 witnesses.
Some of the witness were Dr Tasila’s daughter,Sheryn Peters, the deceased’s younger brother Lonjezo Tembo and the physician’s best friend Caroline Simfukwe.
In her testimony, Ms Simfukwe narrated that the period leading to the victim’s death, she received a text message in which Mwaba allegedly said that Dr Tembo is an animal who did not deserve to be alive.
She said Mwaba warned that he does not have Dr Tembo, a mother of five girls, no one should have her.
Ms Simfukwe, said Mwaba threatened to circulate Dr Tembo’s nudes on social media after she broke up with him.
And Sheryn relieved when her mother informed her that she had ended her relationship with Mwaba because her late mother’s relationship with the officer was toxic and unhealthy.
She told the court that she had misgivings about her mother’s relationship with the army officer.
For Lonjezo, he told the court how on the day his sister went missing, he had been in the same car with her and Mwaba.
But while at a filling station, Mwaba sent Lonjezo fo buy some beer and bread before the accused drove off with Dr Tembo and never returned.
The following day, he could not get through his older sister when he phoned her before her body was found in a discomposed state.
The court later found the accused with a case to answer and placed him on his defence.
The military man denied the allegations and that he loved his girlfriend and had no intention to harm her but that she fell from a moving car after the duo had an altercation.
But Mwaba confessed that he only slapped her after an intense argument they had about the Doctor’s alleged infidelity.
He said the argument was after he found nude pictures and videos in her phone which she exchanged with a pastor Jimmy.
Mwaba claimed he never intended to harm Dr Tembo as he loved her so much but that after she was injured, he could not take her to the hospital because he was confused.
A doctor also testified that Mwaba has a
borderline personality disorder which is characterised by impulsivity and impaired social relationships.
But in her judgement, Judge Newa said Mwaba’ defence cannot stand because the evidence against him was overwhelming.
“The defence of diminished responsibility cannot stand,” she said.
The judge said the prosecutions’ evidence proved beyond all doubt that Mwaba killed the physician after hitting her with a blunt instrument which left her jaw cracked.
The judgement left Dr Tembo’s family, who looked sombre in the gallery, with some sigh of relief even if they are still mourning their beloved.
A relative,Thomas Zulu, told journalists that the family is not celebrating the life sentence because it is still mourning over the brutal murder of Dr Tembo.
Mr Zulu said the deceased, a breadwinner who used to keep her mother who later died of depression after her(Tasila) demise, had so many plans for her daughters.
After the judgement, Mwaba is seen in a white and red Tshirt being led to a prison van.
(Mwebantu, Thursday, 16th January, 2025)
Former Zambia Army Officer, Lieutenant Nigel Mwaba has been given a life sentence for killing his girlfriend Dr.Tasila Tembo in October 2020
