Chilanga UPND member of parliament Keith Mukata and his lover Charmaine Musonda have pleaded with the court to drop the charge of murder leveled against them.

This is in a matter in which the duo is accused of shooting dead Namakabwa Kwenda, a security guard, on May 6, 2017.

In their submissions on no case to answer, Mukata and Charmaine have argued that the state has failed to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt.

Mukata and Charmaine argued that they did not have any motive of killing Kwenda.

The two stated that according to Collins Kabanda, a security guard at Altitude Advertising Company which is next to Mukata’s lawfrim, someone ordered Kwenda to open the gate after which he heard three gunshots.

The accused claimed that when Kabanda peeped through the pigeon windows of his guard room, he saw Mukata oscillating and shouting for help saying someone had shot his worker.

The two stated that the prosecutions had failed to prove the murder charge as they had not established the owner of the gun who pulled the trigger between them.

The duo stated that there was no direct evidence linking it to Kwenda’s death as the evidence before court was circumstantial and drawn on several inferences.

The two echoed investigations officer Mubita Moya’s sentiments that the crime scene was contaminated and a crowd was harassing Mukata.

The accused claimed that the court could not conclude that there was only one fire arm at the scene as there were a lot of people and that no projectile was found at the scene.

The two say convicting them or placing them on their defence based on circumstantial evidence would be an error both in fact and law.

The duo stated that they could not be found with a case to answer because the prosecution case had collapsed on its own exhaustion.