A 34-year-old Nigerian man, Nathaniel Barthram, and his girlfriend, Maria Zaloumis, have been formally charged in Zambia in connection with the death of a 22-year-old man, Enoch Kasengele.
According to reports from Zambia on Tuesday, the case has been transferred to the High Court for trial after the Kabwe Magistrate’s Court made a significant procedural decision. The court reduced the initial, more severe charge of murder to the lesser offence of manslaughter and subsequently granted bail to the suspects.
Barthram and Zaloumis are among a group of five people accused of committing the offence at Onani Farm in Kabwe on August 17. The other three suspects involved in the case were identified as Daniel Chiluwa, Fortune Mwitangati, and Gift Daka.
The victim, Kasengele, was reportedly a resident along the Kabwe-Lusaka Road before his alleged killing. Barthram, a Nigerian national living at Tuzini Farm, and Zaloumis, a farmer residing at Wonani Farm, were said to have been in a relationship at the time the incident occurred.
The suspects were initially charged with murder by the Zambian Police Service on August 28, following the victim’s death. During their first court appearance, Magistrate Wamundila Liswaniso read the formal charge, stating: “You are all charged with one count of murder of 22-year-old Enock Simfukwe Kasengele on August 17, 2025, contrary to Section 200, Chapter 87 of the laws of Zambia.”
After this initial arraignment, the accused were remanded in custody at the Mukobeko Maximum Correctional Facility while the court awaited consent from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to proceed with the murder trial.
However, in a major turn of events during the most recent hearing, State Advocate Joseph Zimba informed the court that the DPP had decided to downgrade the charge from murder to manslaughter.
Following this development, the defence counsel promptly applied for bail on behalf of the accused. They argued that manslaughter “is a bailable offence” and assured the court that their clients were prepared to comply with all necessary conditions.
The court granted the bail application, setting the bail amount at K20,000 for each accused person, with a requirement of “two traceable civil servant sureties per accused.” The state also made a specific request, which the court granted, that Barthram surrender his Nigerian passport as part of his bail conditions to ensure he remains within the court’s jurisdiction.
The case, which has drawn considerable public attention in Zambia, is expected to continue at the High Court in the coming weeks as the manslaughter trial begins.
