GRACE CHAILE
Lusaka
A 27-YEAR-OLD police officer who turned a routine arrest into a deadly assault has been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment with hard labour after admitting to beating a suspect to death while in custody.
“Nobody, not even police officers, are allowed to take the law into their own hands.
Investigating suspects must never come to a point where physical force is used,” said High Court Judge Mwaka Ngoma as she jailed Pythias Mvula, a constable stationed at Chazanga Police Post, for causing the death of Boniface Daka.
Mvula, of Matero Township in Lusaka, pleaded guilty to manslaughter after the charge was reduced from murder under Section 199 of the Penal Code Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia.
In mitigation, Mvula apologised to the deceased’s family and told the court that he deeply regretted his actions, saying the death of the suspect had heavily weighed on him since his arrest.The court heard that on the night of July 8, 2025, four men were taken to Chazanga Police Post by members of the public following reports of breaking into a building with intent to steal.
According to Constable Stephen Chirwa, one of the suspects, later identified as MrDaka, appeared disoriented and was allegedly behaving strangely and was found with drugs in his pockets.
Mr Chirwa told the court that he instructed Mvula to take the suspect to Chipata Level One Hospital for treatment instead of detaining him.
However, investigations later revealed that Mr Daka was severely beaten while in police custody.
A post-mortem conducted by State forensic pathologist Nathan Manenga established that the cause of death was “blunt impact trauma to the buttocks due to assault lasting several minutes”.
The court also heard that two other officers, Mr Chirwa and Misheck Zulu, informed investigators that the deceased had been assaulted by Mvula.
The defence pleaded for leniency, saying Mvula was a first offender who readily admitted committing the offence without wasting the court’s time.
The court also heard that Mvula was only seven months into his service as a police officer at the time of the incident, and was supporting two young children aged three years and eight months.
But Judge Ngoma said the offence was serious and required a custodial sentence to punish the offender and deter other officers from abusing suspects in custody.
Mvula’s five-year sentence takes effect from the date of his arrest on July 12, 2025…. https://enews.daily-mail.co.zm/welcome/home
