FIVE men of Ndola who murdered a taxi driver and bundled his body in the boot, will hang by the neck until pronounced dead, the Ndola High Court has ruled.
Before Judge Charles Chanda, the five, who had booked the taxi driver three hours before he was found dead in the boot of his car, failed to defend themselves during trial.
“You booked the deceased’s taxi who turned out dead, three hours later. Murder carries a mandatory sentence, and I have not found any extenuating circumstances from your evidence. I therefore sentence you to death by hanging until you are pronounced dead by a registered medical practitioner,” Mr Justice Chanda said last Friday.
This is in a case where Jackson Kamanga,21, Aride Mapulanga, 21, Prisma Mutinta, 20, Gershom Chanda,19, and Mutakila Amukute,19, were charged with murder, contrary to section 200, cap 87 of the Laws of Zambia.
Particulars of the offence are that on December 10, 2014, in Ndola, the accused persons did murder Bestone Kapalali.
Evidence before court was that on the material night, around 22.00 hours, Kamanga, alias “Peter Stoga”, who is an ex-convict, was in the company of his friends when he booked Mr Kapalali’s taxi from Kawawayaya station to take them to Mushili Kansengu.
The taxi driver was found dead about three hours later.
And when the accused persons were apprehended, they failed to give police a satisfactory explanation on what happened but kept on arguing and accusing one another of what each one of them did or stole from Mr Kapalali.
Mr Justice Chanda noted that all the accused persons were positively identified and placed at the scene of the crime, hence there were no dangers of false implications.
(DailyMail)
These MUST be hanged very quickly. Please Mr. President, sign the paperwork and let this lot go to the front of the waiting list.
Let me provide the rope!
From there bit I have read, there appears not to have been any strong proof that all 5 murdered the late taxi driver. I see these guys walking on appeal. Failing to give the police a satisfactory explanation for the dead body cannot surely be grounds for conviction of murder which requires a higher standard of proof. Motive / Oppotunity / Means should all be proven
Motive: Not wanting to pay the fee for the ride. Life in Zambia can be cheap in the eyes of these criminals
Opportunity: They hired the cab and that put them at the seen of the crime: Besides, they did not claim innocence but accused one another for the crime!
Means: Not sure but could be a beating or stabbing. The autopsy will reveal all that, if not already
What a shame, look at their ages none of them had reached 30 years and yet started illicit activities, they deserve it fikala fyabo.
Ba muletontokanyamwebantunbandi
With Capital crimes the standard of proof should be ” beyond any reasonable doubt”. The police investigation was shoddy and the accused run circles around the cops by accusing and counter accusing each other. There is doubt about who instigated the murder, doubt about who admininistered the fatal blow or stab; doubt about whether all or only one of the accused committed the murder. I think the judge has not put the evidence on hand to any proper standard of test. The problem with this approach is that he is likely to hang some innocent soul(s) for what is essentially one mans deed. They will walk on appeal
Motive was robbery. Take his night’s take then do away with him. My question is, is there forensic evidence that placed them at the scene of the crime? And who actually identified them as the ones who hired the cab seeing that it happened at night? Is this report half-baked? We need more info.