A 34-year-old Nigerian man, Nathaniel Barthram, and four others, including his girlfriend, Maria Zaloumis, have been charged in Zambia over the death of a 22-year-old man, Enoch Kasengele.
According to a report by the Lusaka Times on Tuesday, the case was transferred to the High Court for trial after a Kabwe Magistrate’s Court reduced the charge from murder to manslaughter and granted the suspects bail.
Other defendants named in the report, obtained by The Press Agency on Wednesday, include Daniel Chiluwa, Fortune Mwitangati, and Gift Daka. They were accused of committing the offence at Onani Farm in Kabwe on August 17.
Kasengele, a resident along the Kabwe–Lusaka Road, was allegedly killed at the farm, while Barthram, a Nigerian national living at Tuzini Farm, and Zaloumis, a farmer from Wonani Farm, were reportedly in a romantic relationship.
An earlier report published on September 23 by The Mast, another Zambian outlet, revealed that the five suspects had made their first court appearance before the Kabwe Magistrate’s Court in connection with Kasengele’s death.
The Zambian Police Service had initially charged the suspects with murder on August 28 following the incident.
“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.
You are expected to appear again for another mention on October 6, 2025, as we await consent from the office of the DPP,” Magistrate Wamundila Liswaniso had read the charge.
The suspects were subsequently remanded at the Mukobeko Maximum Correctional Facility pending further hearing.
When the matter came up again on Monday, Lusaka Times reported that State Advocate Joseph Zimba told the court that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had decided to reduce the charge to manslaughter.
Following the development, defence lawyers applied for bail, arguing that manslaughter “is a bailable offence” and that the accused were prepared to meet all bail requirements.
The court approved the application, with the state only requesting that Barthram surrender his Nigerian passport.
According to the report, Magistrate Liswaniso then granted bail of K20,000 each, with “two traceable civil servant sureties per accused.”
This latest development adds to a growing number of negative reports involving Nigerians abroad.
In February, The Press Agency — citing The Tribune of India — reported that a Nigerian, Adiyako Masaliyo, was beaten to death in Bellahalli, Bhagaluru, India, following an altercation with a man identified as Yasin Khan over an alleged drug-related dispute.
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