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No. 00294 |
November 1 - 7, 2003 |
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Chilling murder in hotel roomby Happy Lazaro and Staff Writer
Both her chin and nose had been gnawed off. Hand and legs tightly tied with a sisal rope and when the body was finally discovered last Monday afternoon in the hotel room, it had already started to decompose. This shocking scene was set in room number 305 located on the third floor of Eland Hotel, along Nairobi Road in Mianzini area of the municipality. The deceased, Neema Mwakamala, a Dar es Salaam resident had checked in at the hotel last Saturday the 25th of October. However, the room was actually rented by a man who remains a mystery to-date and is the prime suspect as far as the lady’s death is concerned. The man had rented the hotel room, registering it under the deceased name, saying she was his sister who was arriving from Dar es Salaam that afternoon. This is according to one of the hotel attendants who however preferred anonymity . The man then left only to return that evening at about 4.00 p.m , accompanied by the lady and they both went upstairs to their rented room. As it is the usual requirement, hotel workers were supposed to clean all rooms the following day, on Sunday the 26th, but room number 305 remained closed. Hotel attendants knocked at the door, reminding its occupants that the time to leave the room was up. The man reportedly answered that, they were going to stay for yet another day, and slipped the room charges of Tsh.20,000 beneath the door. Neither the man nor the woman came out that Sunday and nobody knew how they survived without meals. On Monday morning, the man finally came out, went down for breakfast and when the room attendants told him they wanted to clean the room, he prevented them, saying it wasn’t dirty. He later on disappeared without trace, but other hotel customers started to complain about pungent smell coming from room 305. It was about 2.00 p.m. when the hotel management forced the door open, only to discover the body lying covered and tied onto the bed. Blood was trickling from a deep wound below her breasts, in additional to the bitten off chin and nose. The room TV set was set on at full volume. The Police was notified and arrived promptly. A search revealed three pairs of gloves, four injection syringes and four packets of rat poison. The deceased identification card read: "Mrs Neema Mwakamala" a sales representative for "Western Zone Cosmetics" of Dar es salaam. The company address was P.O. Box 20189, Dar es Salaam and the phone number listed was 051 - 841348. Regional Police Commander, James Kombe while confirming the incident, said attempts to call the number proved futile because the call never went through. He appealed to anybody with information regarding the missing suspect or the dead woman, to divulge it to the Police.
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Last modified:
October 30, 2003. Webmaster: WDJMallya |
