DAUGHTER LAYS BARE HER MOTHER’S DARK SECRETS LEADING TO SHIKAPWASHA’S DEATH
DAUGHTER LAY’S BARE HER MOTHER’S DARK SECRETS LEADING TO SHIKAPWASHA’S DEATH
SMILEY relatives of the late Ronald Shikapwasha were left gloomy yesterday following revelations by his daughter in Court that her mother, Jane Lusengo killed the former politician and soldier after the couple differed over her own infidelity.
Vanessa narrated that she learnt that her father had signed a Bill of Divorcement freeing her mother owing to extra-marital affairs.
A Bill of divorcement is a certificate of divorce written by a man which he gives to his wife to dissolve their marriage upon discovering that she is adulterous.
This is in a case were 73-year old Lusengo is charged with murder.
In her testimony, Shikapwasha’s daughter told judge Conceptor Chinyanwa Zulu that on January 14, 2024 which was a Sunday, her father was in high spirits and gave a sermon at his church.
She said when the family returned home they had a group conversation outside whilst the late Shikapwasha plucked mangoes from a tree behind the house and carried the best ripened ones for his beloved wife Jane in his pockets.
“He came back with some mangoes in his pockets and gave some to mum jokingly saying that these are the fruits Adam gave to Eve,” Vanessa narrated.
She narrated that her father went to his bedroom and she decided to prepare a meal for the family in the kitchen.
“Mum joined us in the kitchen with Milika who was feeding her baby she started a conversation saying; “Your dad!” I said what is it? Milika left the Kitchen. I asked her a question if dad was arguing with her… concerning her issues of infidelity, poisoning and their fights,”Vanessa said.
“I told her if she feels that the situation puts her life in danger she could go and live abroad for atleast two months just for a breather but she refused she said it wouldn’t help resolve their issues.”
Vanessa said Lusengo had indicated the solution was for the late general Shikapwasha to get a job in government as she felt he was temperamental because he was cash strapped.
She said her mother had pondered on engaging President Hakainde Hichilema to consider the late Shikapwasha for a job in his government.
Vanessa said her mother joined her husband in the bedroom after she refused to take him his meal to which she sent her daughter to give him the food.
She said whilst chatting in the kitchen with her daughter, she heard a loud sound like that of a tyre burst but paid little attention to it until she heard Lusengo call out her name.
“I told Bethel to keep quiet so that I could pay attention. She told me she also heard something and laughed and told me obviously it’s nothing. It was around 16:00 hours, I joked back and told her there were guns in this house you never know it might be one,” she said.
“Because I didn’t hear any screaming or shouting I brushed it off and we continued chatting, I heard the alarm lock on one of the two doors leading to the master bedroom on five several occasions before I heard mum shouting in the passage in which I heard my name at a certain point. Then I stood up and ran in the direction of the passage through the dining.”
Vanessa said she met her mother who held a double barrel shotgun in her left hand, in the passage and asked her what transpired.
“I asked her what was going on and what had happened she responded and said your dad has been shot. I asked how and what do you mean ? Before that I held on the gun right above where her hand was and I asked her to give me the gun but she couldn’t let go,”Vanessa said.
“When she mentioned that dad had been shot I let go of the gun and I asked her how and what happened? She responded and said ‘“maybe I shot him I don’t know” and she said she needed to hide the gun somewhere. She started walking quickly towards the dining through the kitchen to the wash room while Bethel and I were running after her. When we reached the washroom she placed the gun on the wall next to the door.”
She said after Lusengo hid the gun she proposed that they get her look for the car keys which she had put in the handbag so that they could rush Lt. general Shikapwasha to the hospital.
Vanessa said her mother was confused after the shooting incident and Milika and her self rushed to their parents room to give them a hand.
“Dad was lying on his back groaning in pain next to the door that led to the closet. Dad was wearing a white T-shirt and on the left side of his abdomen I saw a hole in his t-shirt through which smoke was coming out. I requested mum to give me a towel to cover his would and I lifted his T-shirt that’s when I saw he had a wound in his abdomen on the left side,” she said.
Vanessa said her father’s body had bulged abnormally on the left while some smoke was coming out of the wound and she quickly wrapped a towel over the wound.
She disclosed that the retired ZAF commander begged to be rushed to the hospital whilst admonishing his wife for wounding him over her lewdness.
“He asked us to take him to the hospital whilst saying in lenje ‘Wabona Jane wanchaya abuhule bwako’ meaning you see Jane you have killed me because of your infidelity,” Vanessa said.
“He kept on saying ‘wabona Jane wanchaisha nobuhule bwako’ You see Jane am dying because of your infidelity to me and Milika he said see my children I am dying then he asked me to take off his shoes I told him I would not remove his socks because his feet could get cold.”
Vanessa said her father was not taken to the hospital on time as they waited for their brother Abner who had gone to visit his mother in Mtendere to come and rush him to the hospital as she does not know how to drive whilst her mother was still searching for the keys.
She said Lusengo found the keys and she and Milika aided her father to walk to the garage.
“When we reached the kitchen door dad paused saying he was about to pass out we encouraged him saying if he passed out we couldn’t be able to lift him up,”Vanessa said.
“Mum drove the car and dad kept saying in lenje ‘Jane wanchaya abuhule bwako’ (Jane you have killed me because of your infidelity) and mum was quiet.”
She said she called her aunt Prisca Daka to pray for the family as her father had been shot.
General Shikapwasha was admitted to Mainasoko Military hospital after which Vanessa informed the rest of the family members former First Lady Maureen Mwanawasa, Magret Katungu,Tivo Shikapwasha, Alex about the incident and they joined them at the hospital.
She said the family was briefed by medical personnel that Shikapwasha’s chances of survival were 50-50 as his internal vital organs were damaged and he had few blood pellets.
“The nurse said we wait for a heart surgeon who was coming the following morning as he was in Ndola. After the briefing Milika, Abner and myself decided we would go home around midnight to prepare mum something to eat and get her warm clothes,” she said.
“Mum was moving about in the bedroom so when I knelt down to pray with aunt Daka, I did not close my eyes that’s when I noticed mum moving from the closet going to the dressing mirror with pieces of paper that looked like they came out from a diary.”
She said she got curious when she saw Lusengo tear papers from the diary and hid them at the foot side of the bed.
Vanessa narrated that her mother trashed the papers in the kitchen bin and she instructed Milika to pick them so that they could hand them over to the police.
She said when she read through the visible pieces one had a heading which read Bill of divorcement which was in her father’s handwriting.
Vanessa said another piece had Shikapwasha’s signature appended on it with a bible verse quoted from Deuteronomy 24:1.
Shikapwasha’s daughter said her mother wanted to lie to the police about what transpired after her brother Alex ‘coached’ her about the statement she would give but she asked her to stick to the truth.
She said Lusengo was later picked up and herself together with Milika to give statements to the police regarding the incident around midnight.
During cross examination Vanessa said her father did not intimate about his death earlier in the day during a board meeting at church.
“He didn’t say he would be dying soon. He said if he would die he wanted to groom the board to take over the Ministry,”said Vanessa…https://kalemba.news/court/2024/05/10/daughter-lays-bare-her-mothers-dark-secrets-leading-to-shikapwashas-death/
Cross examination continues on May 14.
By Mwaka Ndawa
Credit: Kalemba