Man arrested after bringing dead girlfriend to University Teaching Hospital, claims insecticide poisoning

A 37-year-old man has been arrested and charged with suspected murder after delivering the body of his girlfriend to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka on Tuesday night, claiming she had died from ingesting insecticide.

According to police reports, at around 23:30 hours, Constable Mufune of the UTH Police Post received a “brought-in dead” (BID) report from a man identified as Maybin Muliye of Kamwala South.

Muliye identified the deceased as his cohabitant, Sipiwe Nyirenda, whose age and residential address remain unknown.

He told officers that Nyirenda had ingested a bottle of insecticide he had purchased for fumigating cockroaches.

Muliye claimed that she asked him for water around 20:00 hours, and when he returned, he found her with white foam in her mouth.

Suspicious of his account, UTH police referred the case to Kabwata Police Station for further investigation.

At the scene, officers recovered the insecticide container. An initial examination of the body revealed no visible external injuries.

Detectives discovered that the couple had only known each other for six days and had just started living together.

Muliye said he had no knowledge of Nyirenda’s family or where she lived before moving in with him.

Police spokesperson, Rae Hamoonga, confirmed that Nyirenda’s body is at the UTH mortuary pending a postmortem examination, formal identification, and burial arrangements.

“Muliye remains in custody as investigations continue. We are appealing to anyone with information about the deceased or her relatives to contact the Maxwell Sibongo Police Post,” Hamoonga stated.

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