Man to serve 6 months for stabbing sister’s lover

THE Ndola Magistrate’s Court has imposed a six-month suspended sentence on a 26-year-old businessman of Nkwazi township in Ndola for stabbing his younger sister’s lover after he found them having sex on the railway line. Magistrate Misozi Banda on Tuesday jailed Chekani Zulu of house number 5533, after finding him guilty of the offence.

Delivering judgment, Ms Banda said it is not in dispute that Zulu’s younger sister, Alice, was having an affair with Christopher Nsama.
Zulu on May 31 this year in Ndola, wounded Christopher, 18, a grade 12 pupil at Kansenshi Secondary School in Ndola.
Nsama and the accused’s younger sister had a relationship and were found on the railway line having sexual intercourse.
“In the circumstances, I have no doubt that the prosecution has proved all the ingredients of the offence charged. So I find the accused guilty of the offence and I convict him accordingly,” Ms Banda said
Passing the sentence, Ms Banda said she had considered the fact that Zulu is a first offender who readily admitted the charge but that he should have been aware of the consequences of committing such a crime.
She hoped Zulu had learnt something during the time he was incarcerated.
“The foregoing being the case, I sentence you to six months imprisonment with hard labour with effect from June 7, the date on which you were arrested and taken into custody.
“I, however, suspend the sentence for 12 months within which you are not to commit a similar offence or you will be brought before this court to serve the sentence,” Ms Banda said.
In mitigation, Zulu asked the court to be lenient on him because he is a married man with eight children.
Zulu also pleaded that his business will fold if he is sent to prison.
During trial, Christopher of house number 1699, Nkwazi township in Ndola, told the court that on the fateful night around 20:30 hours, he was walking along the railway line with Alice when Zulu confronted him and stabbed him in the head and neck with a screw driver.
Christopher said Zulu had covered his head with a balaclava but that he identified him because there was some light coming from the phone he was carrying.
He testified that Alice ran away after the assault but that he wrestled with Zulu and grabbed the screwdriver he used to stab him with before the assailant ran into a nearby bush.
Mr Nsama said he sustained cuts on the head and neck and he reported the matter to Nkwazi Police Post.
And Alice, 18, of house number 3655, Nkwazi township in Ndola, admitted that she was in relationship with Mr Nsama and that the two had sex on the railway line on several occasions.
She testified that on the fateful night, she was having sex with Christopher when a man came and pulled him and a fight ensued.
She told the court that she ran home after witnessing the fight but was later informed that her mother had been summoned to the police station because police had arrested Zulu for assault.
Ms Zulu told the court that she had difficulties to identify the assailant because she was lying down at the time he attacked Christopher
She confirmed that the assailant had covered his face with a balaclava.
Alice, however, told the court that she was no longer in love with Mr Nsama because he started dating someone else after the assault.

Zambia Daily Mail