Sumbawanga murder suspect gets conditional discharge

THE High Court in Sumbawanga, Rukwa Region, has given a conditional discharge to a fisherman from Kilangawala Village along the Lake Rukwa Basin in Sumbawanga District after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

The convict, Evod Johaness alias Luanda (34), had earlier been charged with killing his wife, Alice Mwanja alias Sulungwe, by stabbing her on the left side of the chest with a knife during a fight that erupted amid accusations of infidelity.

The Rukwa Regional Commissioner (RC), Ms Stella Manyanya, led residents to hear the judgment, being part of events to mark the Law Day held at the High Court premises.

The Judge-in-Charge of the High Court - Sumbawanga Zone, Justice Kakusulo Mwakipome Sambo, said he could not convict the accused of murder because he did not plan to kill his wife and even the weapon he used, a knife, was picked at the scene of the incident.

"I am very much convinced that the defendant did not pre-meditate the crime as he had picked the weapon he used from the scene of the crime ........ after running away for brief hiding, he then phoned his friend at the village instructing him to bring the wounded wife to his hideout, so that he could take her to a health facility for treatment.

He also ordered his friend to sell all his fish catch so that the proceeds would help to foot medical bills . "This shows that the accused did not know that he had killed his wifeÉ."

During mitigation, the defendant pleaded that he regretted what he did to his wife as he didn't intend to kill her. Also he lost all his parents and has four children depending entirely on him as they are still schooling.

"The trend of events even the facts of the case shows that he had no intention of murdering her but the defendant was enraged and failed to exercise self -control," Justice Sambo told a packed court room.

Judge Sambo then set free the accused with conditional discharge that he remains a good citizen and never to commit any criminal offence for ten months beginning from the ruling of the case.

The court heard that Evod and Alice lived together as husband and wife at Kilangawana Village and on October 19, 2012, at night, Evod returned home with fish he had caught from Lake Rukwa in Sumbawanga District and started preparing them using a knife when he suddenly started accusing Alice of infidelity.

He then picked the knife and stabbed her after collecting all her clothes and setting them on fire and ran away. Neighbours rushed to render help thinking that the hut of the accused had caught fire.

But instead they found Alice injured on her left side and hurriedly rushed her to the nearby health facility for treatment, but was pronounced dead.

The postmortem results show that Alice died of excessive bleeding. The court was further told that the following day, the accused phoned his friend from the village to bring to him his wife so that he could secretly take her to a health facility for treatment.

It was at that moment that village elders decided to send three militiamen with one dressing as a woman and cycled to where the accused was and arrested him.

The advocate, Mr Mathias Budodi, represented the defendant while prosecution was led by State Attorney Mwashubira Njoroyoka, assisted by his colleague, Scholastica Lugongo.

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