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ZAMBIA: Belief in Witchcraft Rescues Prisoner From Death Sentence

A belief in witchcraft no matter how unreasonable amounts to extenuating circumstances, said Supreme Court Deputy Chief Justice David Lewanika as a death row inmate had his death sentence commuted to 20-years with hard labour.

 Justice Lewanika, who sat with judges Ireen Mambilima and Peter Chitengi, was delivering judgment yesterday in a matter in which William Chisha appealed against his conviction and sentence for the murder of Abel Chikoma on February 14, 1999.

 Evidence before the lower court was that on the day in question, a Catholic priest was driving from Kaputa Mission to Kasama when he saw the deceased on a bike. A man armed with a gun emerged from the bush and shot at the deceased who fell. The priest went back until he came to a group of villagers and returned to the scene with them.

 The victim, bleeding from the stomach and with difficulties in breathing, said he had been shot by Chisha. He died in hospital the following day.

 The victim's son-in-law told the court how, after receiving the report on the shooting, he went to the village and with the assistance of neighbourhood watch members apprehended Chisha.

 Chisha then led them to a shelter where a muzzle loader was recovered. In defence, Chisha said he spent the entire day at home and denied any knowledge of the gun. In appealing against Chisha's conviction, his lawyer submitted the trial judge erred by convicting on circumstantial evidence. The lawyer also contended there was dereliction of duty by the police officers who did no ballistics examination nor submitted a post-mortem report to establish the cause of death.

 The lawyer submitted that there was evidence of a belief in witchcraft, so the court should not have imposed a capital punishment because there were extenuating circumstances.

 Upholding the conviction, the Supreme Court said there was no doubt on the cause of death. Judge Lewanika said Chisha was well known to the deceased and related to him. He said the deceased was shot and died the following day.

 The bench also noted there was evidence on record Chisha's father had died and blamed the deceased for his death. The death sentence was set aside in light of the extenuating circumstances and substituted it with the 20-year sentence with effect from the date of his arrest.