This archive report was first published on 17 June 2020.
On May 7, Holy Thursday, Father Abel Mwelwa invited his lover, a married woman, to the parish house in Lusaka, Zambia. The woman, a member of the Catholic Women's league from St Maurice Catholic Church, had lied to her husband that she was attending a funeral elsewhere.
According to reports, Father Mwelwa injected the woman with a substance in an attempt to terminate her pregnancy. However, the woman died in the priest's house.
The Archbishop of Lusaka, Alick Banda, suspended Father Mwelwa from the priesthood indefinitely, effective immediately. The priest also ceased to be the parish priest of Kaunda Square parish and the judicial vicar of the Archdiocese of Lusaka.
As part of the suspension, Father Mwelwa was mandated to pay for the funeral expenses of the deceased woman. The woman's family had urged the police to investigate the real cause of her death, and an autopsy result was pending at the time of writing.
