A WITNESS has narrated to the Lusaka High Court how he saw some Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) youths jump out of a boat into the water while it was still in motion.
Meanwhile, the brother of one of the six SDA youths who drowned on Lake Kariba has narrated that the boat operator put it into motion without telling the youths anything, causing them to panic and start jumping out as they didn’t know where it was going.
This is a matter in which Jonathan Haajaya, Osborne Mambo and Tyson Hachiyako are facing six counts of manslaughter.
It is alleged that Haajaya, Mambo and Hachiyako on January 1, 2022, caused the death of Allan Mwaanga, Ronald Libuku, Rodwell Chileshe, Goodson Hamaila, Niza Muchibila and Zebron Shikambo.
Shepard Chisulo, 39, a driver, testified before justice Kenneth Mulife that earlier on, the youths were doing summersaults from the boat into the water.
“January 1, 2022, on this day I was off duty and I went to Kariba dam around 14:00 hours. When I reached at Lake Kariba, and I sat by the beach, I found a lot of people swimming. At around 15 to 16 hours, a big boat used for fishing kapenta known as Sunshine 2 arrived and parked by the edge of the lake where those from SDA Church were swimming. It was parked there for about 20 minutes. The church congregants went into the same boat to play. They would do summersaults from the boat into the water. After 20 minutes, the driver started the engine while people were still on the boat. Those people started jumping into the water when the boat was reversing into the water. The boat was still in motion when people were jumping in the water. As the boat was turning into the deep waters, people were still jumping out of the boat into the water,” he said.
And Cornelius Chileshe, 21, a cafe attendant of John Laing compound narrated how he and his friends struggled to swim in the deep waters after jumping out of the boat, only to realise after reaching the shore that his elder brother didn’t make it.
“I received a call from my brother Rodwell Mulenga Chileshe if I could accompany him to the camp in Siavonga. On 1st January we went to the harbor to swim, we were seven of us. Rodwell, Zebron, John, Castro, Mike, me, Ramsey. Upon reaching the harbor, we found other members of our church. There were more than 50 members who were swimming. That was around 15 to 16 hours. We started swimming and playing games. As we were swimming, a boat came and parked at the shore of the lake. The boat came with 3 crew members. We started using it as a flat surface to dive into the water. The other portion of the boat was in the water and the other on the land. We were more than 30 who used it to dive into the water. While we were using the boat to dive into the water, the crew members saw us doing so. We used the boat for about 20 minutes. One of the crew members who happens to be the driver went to buy something while the other two were still on the boat,” the witness narrated.
“When the driver came back, he just started the engine of the boat without telling us anything. Even the other two members didn’t tell us anything. When the boat started, we were more than 30. The boat started into deep waters. As it was moving slowly into the deep waters, the people started jumping off the boat into the water. The driver saw the people jumping, but they didn’t say anything. When the boat reached where there was a beacon, me, Zebron and John, that’s when we jumped off the boat. Approximately 20 meters in depth. We jumped off the boat because there was a lot of panic and [we] didn’t know where the boat was headed to. As we jumped into the water, I and my friends struggled to swim because the boat had reached the deep waters. We started swimming towards the shore. I struggled to swim and there is a person who helped me and Castro to reach the shore. When I reached the shore, that’s when I realised that my elder brother was not among the survivors.”
