A 28 year old man in Chikwawa will spend the next three years and half in prison for pouring hot porridge on his mother.

The convict, Jacob Petro, of Thuboyi Village in the area of Traditional Authority, Katunga in the district was found guilty of the offence during the court’s sitting on Friday.

The court through Police Prosecutor, Levison Musote, learnt that on 13th October, 2017, Petro accused his mother, Felia Petro of witchcraft.

“At round 7 O’clock in the evening on the said date, Petro stormed into the kitchen, and found his mother preparing nsima.

“He charged that the mother had bewitched and killed his elder son so that she could inherit the deceased clothes and sell them,” Musote told the court.

The police prosecutor added that the convict scalded his mother with hot porridge injuring her in the process.

In his mitigation, the accused asked for lenient sentence saying he had two wives who would suffer a lot if he were handed harsh sentence.

First Grade Magistarte, Gladstone Chilundu, however lamented that the convict did not show any remorse; hence deserved a stiffer penalty to deter others. He was therefore sentenced to spend three and a half years in prison.

In a related development, 23 year old Emmanuel Matasoni has been slapped with a 20 month jail sentence after he was found guilty of stealing a bicycle.
The offence is contrary to Section 282 of the Penal Code.

Matasoni who was a herd boy was alleged to have stolen the bicycle from his employer Jacob Chikume at Matekenya Village on 12th November, 2017.

He was hunted and arrested in his home village of Nsangwe in the area of Senior Chief Ngabu.

During trial on Friday, Matasoni admitted to the offence and was convicted on his own plea of guilt.