A 22-year-old man Chikondi Njungule in Balaka has been sentenced to 6 years imprisonment with hard labour for robbing a motorcycle kabaza operator.
The Balaka First Grade Magistrate’s Court through state prosecutor Sergeant Andrew Moses heard that the convict Chikondi Njungule at Demeter Farm in Balaka District while being armed with a phanga knife robbed Cassim Saidi (motorcycle kabaza operator) of his motorcycle valued at K850,000.00.
The court further heard that the convict hired the victim who is a motorcycle kabaza operator within Balaka Township in order to ferry him to Demeter Farm for other errands, but on the way the motorcycle developed a mechanical fault.
As the victim was trying to fix the mechanical fault, the convict produced a phanga knife from his laptop bag and hacked the victim on the head.
Communities around Demeter Farm who saw the two passing along the road within the farm while riding a motorcycle were surprised to see that the two were struggling signifying that something unusual had happened.
This prompted the communities to rush to the scene and discovered that the rider of the motorcycle (victim) was hacked and the convict was pushing the motorcycle.
After investigations, it was revealed that the victim was hired by the convict to ferry him to Demeter Farm but when the motorcycle developed a mechanical fault, the convict produced a phanga knife and hacked the victim. This led to the arrest of the convict and was later brought to police for further action.
Appearing before court, the convict pleaded not guilty to a charge of robbery with violence. This prompted the state to parade three witnesses who proved the case beyond reasonable doubt and he was later convicted accordingly.
In mitigation, the convict asked the court for leniency, saying he has a family which he looks after and if given a custodial sentence, his family will suffer.
In his submission, state prosecutor Sergeant Andrew Moses pleaded with the court for a stiff punishment, saying that the convict planned to commit the offence as he produced a phanga knife from his laptop bag and hacked the victim as soon as the motorcycle developed a mechanical fault, adding that the offence committed is serious in nature hence asked for a custodial sentence to detter other would-be offenders.
Without much ado, First Grade Magistrate Philip Chibwana quashed the mitigation factor and explained that the accused person is dangerous and he therefore sentenced the man to 6 years imprisonment with hard labour.
The convict, Chikondi Njungule, comes from Chisinga Village in the area of Traditional Authority Phimbi in Balaka District.
