Businessman Nshinka Kaputo who is accused of murdering his girlfriend, Precious Mangesana, a MultiChoice employee, has denied being a possessive and jealous lover, claiming in his defence that the deceased shot herself.
Kaputo has further told the Lusaka High Court that on the material day, Precious told him that she was tired and wanted the two to kill themselves.
In this matter, Kaputo is charged with two counts of murdering his girlfriend Precious Mangesana and acts intended to cause grievous harm.
Kaputo, 35, is alleged to have shot dead Mangesana on October 5, 2017.
It is further alleged that on the same date, Kaputo shot his daughter in the neck, an act intended to cause grievous harm.
In May this year, Lusaka High Court Judge Cathrine Phiri found Kaputo with a case to answer and placed him on his defence on both counts after noting that there was sufficient evidence on record that the accused was found with a gun in his hands and spare magazines.
She added that the gunshot wound that was found in the neck of the child was an act intended to cause grievous harm on a person.
But opening his defence, Kaputo told the Lusaka High Court that on the material day, Precious got the gun from a secret place where they used to hide it at his house and approached him outside the gate, while he was holding their daughter.
He said when he realized that Precious was holding a gun, he got scared and asked her what she was doing with it.
Kaputo said the deceased told him that she was tired of things and just wanted the two to kill themselves.
He claimed that when he noticed her tone and posture, he knew that she was about to do something, adding that at that point, he got hold of the gun as he had nowhere to run.
Kaputo claimed that Precious told him that she was tired and wanted both of them to die and end things.
“When she came out, I was still standing by the car near the driver’s side. I did not even pay attention. Until she came very close to me. And when I realized that she was holding a gun I was like ‘what are you doing with a gun?’ I got scared a little, but I didn’t want to alarm the situation. I thought it was one of those ‘I’m gonna scare you moments’,” Kaputo narrated.
“When I realised from her tone, posture and the things she was saying, I knew she was about to do something. My quickest reaction was to get closer to her and hold on to her gun. If it was in any other situation, I would have walked away, run away or found a hiding place. At that time she was saying ‘I’m tired of things, things need to come to an end, today, we just have to kill ourselves!’ We got so close and whilst holding Naila on the other hand, I held on to her right hand where the gun was.”
Kaputo told the Court that he held on to the gun to ensure that if it was going to be fired, it wasn’t going to be fired at either him, Precious or his daughter.
“Holding on to the gun I was ensuring that it doesn’t point at me, her, but points either down or up, then gun went off. In that instance, about two to three shots were fired and from where we were standing, some spark for the first shots that were fired must have hit the car somehow. I noticed at that point, Naila is down, Precious is also down, gun is also down and I rushed to go pick up Naila; that’s when I noticed that she was bleeding from her neck! I was very scared and traumatized,” he said.
And Kaputo said when the bullet cartriges were being picked up, they were close to Precious’ body, but added that because of how close the two were during the incident, it was not possible for the cartriges to have fallen where they were picked up from.
And commenting on his daughter’s gunshot wound on her neck, Kaputo said he loved his child and wouldn’t want to hurt her.
“Even when I left the house to go to the gate, there was never a thought that someone is going to get hurt,” he said.
He denied causing grievance bodily harm on his child.
Kaputo further said the witness, who was claiming to be Precious’ friend, was lying when she testified that he would threaten the deceased with a gun and that she would also have bruises.
“That was a lie! For somebody who said was a very close friend to Precious, we never met. I met her friends, who visited the house and she was never one of them,” he said.
Kaputo also denied that he was a possessive and jealous lover to the deceased, saying he supported everything that she did and she also stayed in his house.
As he continued with his defence, Kaputo claimed that Precious shot herself.
The matter comes up on November 5 and 6, this year, for continued defence.