By LUCY PHIRI
A 35-YEAR-OLD man of Chipata Compound has been sentenced to three years simple imprisonment for killing his wife and later dumping her body in the bush.
Jonas Mwaba was charged with the offence of murder which was later reduced to manslaughter.
It is alleged that on June 26, 2021, Mwaba caused the death of Given Bwalya his wife.
When the case came up before Lusaka High Court Judge Koreen Mwenda-Zimba, the accused pleaded guilty to the charge.
Facts are that on June 6, 2021 around 13:00 hours, the accused and his wife decided to leave their home for leisure and headed different ways in Zingalume.
Around 20:00 hours when Mwaba returned home, he found his wife standing with a man at the gate.
When they entered the house, the couple started fighting. Bwalya picked a brick in an attempt to hit the husband.
In the process, the accused used the same brick to hit the wife in the chest. The fighting continued for three hours with the two using a cooking stick and fists.
The couple later retired to bed but Bwalya was discovered dead around 03:00 hours in the matrimonial house.
Mwaba picked the body and dumped in Barlastone before fleeing his house.
“On June 28, 2021, the body was found by passers-by who reported to the police. On January 20, 2022, Police arrested Mwaba who was found in Ndola’s Masala Township.
A post-mortem on Bwalya’s body found that she died after suffering a trauma from a blunt force injury. Mwaba was later charged with murder which was reduced to manslaughter. Judge Mwenda-Zimba found Mwaba guilty of manslaughter.
In mitigation through defence lawyer Maribesa Mauyaneyi, asked the court to exercise leniency because the convict was a first offender who readily pleaded guilty and never wasted the court’s time.
Mauyaneyi said her client regrets his actions and asked for leniency considering that he is a father of two children aged five and seven.
“Your honour, we ask for the court to exercise some leniency on my client. He is a first offender who has not wasted the court’s time as he has admitted to the offence. He is a family man with two children aged five and seven. Your honour, my client is also looking after his aged mother,” she submitted.
In her judgement, Judge Zimba said she would consider the mitigation and the fact that the convict is a first offender who admitted the charge.
But she noted that the offence is serious and attracts up to life imprisonment and that his conduct was exacerbated by the fact that he dumped the body.
“I have considered the mitigation and the fact that the convict is a first offender who has admitted the charge. But the offence is serious in nature and attracts up to a life imprisonment and his conduct was exacerbated by the fact that he dumped the body. I therefore sentence you to three years’ simple imprisonment from the day of your arrest,” she said.
