Wife strongly linked to the death of Kaufman

THERE are strong evidences linking  Peggy and her sister to the death of her husband Mervin Kaufman,  police sources have said.

Mervin Kaufman

Police sources have told The Independent Observer that the sun glasses that Mr Kaufman was made to wear when he never used to wear raises eyebrows.

"Police will soon close in on other suspects in this matter but they have already established sufficient evidence to prosecute the two.

"But there no need for the two to panic because a person is arrested as a suspect and the courts of law will after looking at the evidence decide either to convict or acquit her," the source said.

The source said there was no need for Peggy and her family to complain as though their relatives had already been convicted.

Peggy was quoted saying she was shocked that anybody could think that together with her sister had murdered her husband.

Sources close to Mr Kaufman, 59, said they had strong suspicions of foul play over his death as the autopsy, conducted after his body was exhumed in Kabwe, revealed that he did not die from natural causes.

In fact friends of Mr Kaufman had allegedly offered to buy a plot at the grave in Chingola for him to be buried in Chingola where he was living and he was known. 

Peggy Meleka Kaufman, 37, and her sister Emily Meleka were arrested on suspicions that they murdered Kaufman or could have engineered his death.
She was quoted from her police cell saying everything that had been made public about the autopsy that was conducted was surprising and raised further suspicions on her part as the body of her husband was intact the time he was buried.

"I looked at the pictures that were shown to me. That does not reflect the way he was buried. We buried him in a casket but the pictures were showing a different coffin just a cheap thing. The manhood was missing; he had cuts on his head and a broken rib, there was nothing like that. His body was intact. It could be that the body was tampered with. 

“How come the coffin is different and those things which were not there when I took him from hospital? He never had cuts; he never had cut manhood, all those were not there. My husband was suffering from bronchitis and pneumonia and that was the cause of his death. Records are there at Chingola South Hospital, you can find out from them," she said.

But some sources close to the Kaufman said the strong suspicions about his death started on the day of burial when his daughters Veronica and Merlyn, who are both South Africans, noticed during the body viewing, that the pillow that was in the casket had blood stains and they could not see him properly because of the sun glasses that were put on his face.

The police source said Mr Kaufman never used to put sun glassed neither was he a fun of them and wondered why he wearing them during body viewing.

“The suspicious is that the sun glasses were meant to conceal facial injuries. During investigations there was a contradiction at the time he died. The family was told he died at 06:00 hours but the medical report indicated 23:48 hours.

“The other suspicions were that why was the man buried in Kabwe where he wasn’t known? And there are many other things that transpired between the day he died and the day he was buried. So when the police and pathologists were granted their request to exhume the body, that's when they discovered all those things. It was terrible but we believe justice will prevail. Whether Peggy and her sister are innocent or not, it's up to the police and the courts to tell," a source said.

The source said there were also suspicions of poisoning and it was one of the reasons why the body was exhumed.

Another relative, Haggai Chanda called for thorough investigations on Kaufman's death.

"My brother in-law Mervin Kaufman died on November 24, 2012 at Nchanga south hospital's intensive care unit in Chingola from breathing difficulties according to the cause of death certificate by the doctors. 

"Police acting on information that Mr Kaufman had been poisoned by his wife that information came from Mr Kaufman's two adult daughters from his first wife who had never visited their father for the over 16 years he lived and worked in Zambia... the two ladies had actually body viewed their father's dead body along with their mother and a group of locals, arranged for Mr Kaufman's body to be dug up privately without notifying any of us as his family in Zambia of this fact."

Mr Chanda said upon exhuming Kaufman's body, they found the body had gruesome facial, head, and body injuries and also his manhood had been cut off.
 

"When he was in hospital he had none of these injuries on him through to the funeral house but upon being exhumed, it was discovered he died from severe beatings? Mr and Mrs Kaufman were business partners (KAUFTECH ZAMBIA LTD; KAUFMAN LTD; CARTEK BODY & SPRAY) and they have children aged 16, 14, four-years-old respectively and between 60 - 100 employees who depend on the companies being active to care for their families. Ms Kaufman and her young sister Emily who have authority at the banks to sign for payments and withdrawals are not allowed to because of the nature of the accusation against them, meaning the workers do not get paid. The company's debt start piling and eventually they have to sell the cars, the house, tools, children pulled out of school because they can't pay school fees etc," he stated.

"The three minors lost their father in November last year and now they have lost their mother too? What about their future? When Mervin died in the care of medical professionals without physical injuries on him! Is it right for the children to only lose both parents and their way of life too? Is it right for a bereaved wife not only to lose her husband after nursing him then lose everything? Is it right to put the workers out of work?"

Chanda said he was puzzled and angry.

"But this is not justice for Mr Kaufman, my sisters, my nieces, the employees, the company, my whole family and to the hard working men and women of our country. If my sisters have done it, I will be the first to hand them over to face the law. Speak with the professionals and institutions that pronounced him dead and prepared the body," said Chanda.