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—The Chipata High Court has sentenced two Malawian nationals to death by hanging after they were found guilty of murder and aggravated robbery.
Before High Court Judge, Dominic Sichinga, were a businessperson, Chancy Mtambalika, 35, of Mtamalikamoyo village, Chief Mbelwa in Mzimba District and a carpenter, Thomas Makina, 35, of Chikondi Traditional Authority in Zomba District.
Facts are that in the first count, the two accused persons on December 15, 2012, in Lundazi district of Zambia, jointly and whilst armed with a fire arm, stole a vehicle, a Toyota Corolla registration number ALF 7106, valued at K 27, 000,000-00 ( Kr 27,000-00 ) from Derrick Simasiku Lingumbwa, contrary to the Laws of Zambia.
Judge Sichinga said he had convicted the two upon carefully considering the testimonies of witnesses that the court called to give evidence against the two.
He said all the witnesses were steadfast in their testimonies and their evidence remained unchallenged.
Justice Sichinga noted that he was convinced that the two acted together in the killing and stealing of the vehicle from Derrick Ling’umbwa.
He said the first state witness, Billy Mawelela, identified both convicts during an identification parade held at Lundazi Police Station, adding that he knew them from the time they booked the vehicle during the day until 19:00 hours when the crime was committed.
Justice Sichinga observed that when put on defence, Chancy Mtambalika’s testimony that he bought the vehicle from Billy Mawelela, was not true because there was no evidence that Mawelela, who was on the vehicle with the deceased at the time of committing the crime, knew Mtambalika before.
He said Mawelela only knew the two convicts at Goma Temwa Rest House in Lundazi on the material day and that was the reason why he had enough opportunity to identify them during the identification parade.
Judge Sichinga sentenced the two to death by hanging until pronounced dead and asked God to bless their souls.
And father of the deceased, Brighton Ling’umbwa, said he had waited patiently for the final verdict of the case and expressed satisfaction with the judgement.
Mr Ling’umbwa said the convicts just wanted to implicate others in the case, adding that the state had gathered enough evidence against the convicts which led to the conviction by the court.
