A 43-YEAR-OLD man of Mpongwe accused of murdering his two friends with opaque beer laced with a sex booster has told the court that the concoction made his manhood stronger than usual. This is in a case Baron Mulela is charged with two counts of murder. On September 7, 2017, Mulela allegedly murdered Lawrence Luwani and Timothy Lufungulo. The victims died after they consumed the sex booster which was meant to improve their libido. But in his defence, Mulela told Ndola High Court Judge Mary Mulanda that he used to drink the energiser on several occasions and nothing happened to him apart from heightened sexual pleasure.

He denied causing the death of his two friends arguing that on the material day while drinking the concoction, his brother-in-law, a Mr Kandeke, got the sex booster and mixed it with opaque beer called chibuku. Mulela said after they finished drinking the beer, his friends and Mr Kandeke left his home to continue drinking wine somewhere else.

“I asked Kandeke about the medicine and he said it was a male energiser. I also went ahead and asked him how it worked,” he said. Mulela told the court that his brother-in-law had on several occasions put sex boosters in beer and it improved his libido. He further told the court that around 21:00 hours on the material, he received information that one of his friends, Mr Luwani, was unwell.

Mulela said the following day, a police officer, in the company of a neighbourhood watch officer, apprehended him on allegations that he was behind the death of Mr Luwani. “The same day, I received word again that my other best friend, Mr Lufungulo, had also died after drinking the beer mixed with the sex booster,”

Mulela said. And his juvenile son testified that he was sent by his uncle, Mr Kandeke, to get the medicine from his father’s car. He said he saw his father and friends drink beer which was mixed with the medicine he got from his father’s vehicle. E a r l i e r d u r i n g t r i a l , a pathologist told the court that Mr Lufungulo and Mr Luwani died of fast poisoning.

Roan Antelope General Hospital pathologist Mwamba Mubikayi testified that when he received the two bodies, he conducted a post-mortem in the presence of a police officer and relatives of the victims. He said the results were positive, an indication that Mr Luwani and Mr Lufungulo died of acute intoxication of a pesticide called dichlorvos. Judge Mulanda adjourned the matter to April 2 next year for judgement.