By 
Guntila Muleya, the late Director General of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), was handcuffed and crying for help as he was dragged into a vehicle by men he claimed not to trust, a hotel manager has told the Lusaka High Court.
In emotionally charged testimony, Mika Convention Centre manager Richard Kapili described a distressing scene in the hotel car park on the evening of July 23, 2024. Kapili told Judge Vincent Siloka that Muleya pleaded not to be taken, saying he feared the men forcing him into the car.
“He kept saying, ‘Please don’t let them take me, I don’t trust them,’” Kapili said, adding that the incident disturbed other guests at the hotel.
He testified that he was drawn outside around 18:00 hours by a commotion and found Muleya resisting two men attempting to shove him into a vehicle.
“The man was crying and begging me not to let them take him because he didn’t trust them,” Kapili said. “They were causing alarm and scaring our guests, so I had to intervene.”
The men claimed to be police officers, insisting that Muleya had information about a crime and needed to accompany them. When Kapili asked for identification, one of the men—dressed in camouflage and armed—retrieved an ID card from a nearby car and showed it to him.
Satisfied with the ID, Kapili said he advised Muleya to comply.
“They still struggled with him for a while. He was strong, and it took them some time to get him into the car,” he added.
Kapili later identified one of the men—now accused number one, police officer M’Thusani Dokowe—during a statement he gave to police on July 28, 2024.
“He was the one I spoke to directly. He had shown me the ID,” Kapili testified. He also described another man in camouflage who was armed at the time.
Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Chawezi Ngoma, Kapili confirmed it was his first time witnessing an arrest of that nature. He admitted that he did not inspect the police ID closely enough to note any names but recognised the police logo and accepted it as genuine.
He denied seeing a woman in a headscarf confronting Muleya at the scene and confirmed that IBA accountant Francis Chipyoka—one of the accused—was not present during the incident.
In related testimony, Mulenga Simukoko, a 26-year-old bar attendant from Ng’ombe township, said he was on duty at Mika Convention Centre the same night. He recalled serving a man who ordered two Heineken beers but left without finishing the second.
Though he did not witness the incident in the car park, Simukoko was summoned to Lusaka Central Police on July 28 and later identified Samuel Dokowe—the third accused—as the man he had served, describing him as “a bit huge with a white beard and carrying a black bag.”
The four accused—29-year-old police officer M’Thusani Dokowe, his brother Samuel Dokowe, 42-year-old accountant Francis Chipyoka, and 30-year-old police officer Caleb Zulu—are jointly charged with the murder of Guntila Muleya.
The trial continues on Thursday.
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