‘Jealousy’ hubby jailed for assault

The Mazabuka Magistrates court has sentenced a 24 year old man of Shimungalu fishing camp in Mazabuka to five months in imprisonment with hard labour for assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
On March 14th, Namushi Namushi a fisherman appeared before Mazabuka Resident Magistrate Greenwell Malumani charged with one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Facts before the court where that on 20th February 2014, in Mazabuka, Namushi assaulted Brian Bwalya causing him bodily harm.

Namushi is alleged to have picked a quarrel with Bwalya around 18;00 hours on the material day after his wife reported to him that Bwalya followed her to the house where he started proposing love to her.

The court heard that following a report submitted to Namushi by his wife, he decided to follow Bwalya to his house where a fight ensued following a quarrel after Bwalya admitted to having proposed love to Namushi’s wife.

Namushi who pleaded guilty to the offence narrated in court that after his wife told him that his friend Bwalya proposed love to her he decided to confront him and ended up beating him.

Asked by the court why he decided to beat Bwalya, Namushi stated that he was jealous of his wife and did not want to share her with any man saying he slapped Bwalya in the face in order to teach him a lesson as well as to stop him from proposing love to his wife again.

And in mitigation Namushi asked for the court to exercise maximum leniency because he was a first offender who regretted his action.

Namushi added that he was an orphan who was taking care of his siblings and if imprisoned they would suffer as their will be no one to look after them.

And passing sentence, Magistrate Malumani observed that cases of assault were on the increase in the district and that it was the duty of the court to met out some punishment that would deter others from committing the same offences.

Magistrate Malumani said the court would however exercise some lenience considering the fact that Namushi was a first offender who did not waste the courts time.

He however said that due to the nature of the offence, the court had no choice but to met out custodial sentence and imprisoned Namushi to five months effective 10th march 2014.

After the sentence, Magistrate Malumani took time to counsel Namushi advising him to stop his jealousy ways saying all he needed to do was to sue in the courts of law upon being informed that his friend was proposing love to his wife.

” have you seen what you have found yourself into now because of your jealous, you are living your wife behind and going to jail over something that you could have easily avoided. if you are married to a beautiful wife you do not expect men to stop following her but if she is principled she will tell those men that am married and cannot have an affair with them,” advised Magistrate Malumani.