Africa-Press – Zambia. A 37-year-old Kapiri Mposhi man has been sentenced to six month imprisonment with hard labour for threatening to bewitch another. Before Kapiri Mposhi Magistrate Edward Banda was Watson Ndokesha, a farmer of Lukanda resettlement scheme charged with one count of professing knowledge of witchcraft.
The offence is contrary to section 5(a)(b) of the Witchcraft Act chapter 90 of the laws of Zambia. Ndokesha pleaded guilty as charged. Facts in this matter are that on 10th March 2022 around 16:20 hours the complainant in this matter Chisambala Bhota was at his farm in Lukanga area when he was approached by the now convicted.
Ndokesha then started telling the complainant that he would teach him a lesson using charms because his father (complainant’s father) had confiscated a kiln of charcoal from him (accused). Earlier the complainant’s father confiscated a kiln of charcoal from the now convict after he was found cutting trees in his farm without permission.
Ndokesha then threatened the complainant that he was going to use charms by way of making the charcoal permanently stick on the complainant’s head as punishment for his father’s action to confiscate charcoal from him.
The now convict further told the complainant that the charms would be no be reversible so that the complainant suffers for the rest of his life for his father’s action.
This caused fear and annoyed the complainant who was prompted to report the matter to police. After instituting investigations in this matter police managed to apprehend Ndokesha .
In mitigation the now convict begged the court to exercise leniency on him stressing he would not repeat professing knowledge of witchcraft. But in passing judgement Magistrate Banda noted that the acts of professing knowledge of witchcraft and naming of persons as witches has become common in Kapiri Mposhi. Therefore the court needed to mete-out appropriate punishment to warn would be offenders. He then passed a six month jail term against Ndokesha.
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