Housemaid Jailed For Aggravated Robbery

The Lusaka High Court has convicted and sentenced a 43-year-old housemaid to 20 years simple imprisonment for aggravated robbery in which she exhibited excessive levels of brutality.
Before High Court judge Florence Lengalenga was Agness Tembo Phiri who was jointly charged with 25-year-old Jackson Chembe for aggravated robbery that occurred in Lusaka’s Northmead area on August 19, 2011.
The allegation was that on the material day, Phiri and Chembe, whilst armed with an iron bar and a hacksaw blade, stole assorted items valued at K6,750 from Sejal Patel and used actual violence during the robbery.
They pleaded not guilty to the charge but judge Lengalenga convicted the duo on the basis that the violence and brutality that they exhibited during the robbery was excessive and could have sent shivers to anyone.
It was heard, during trial, that Phiri and Chembe during the robbery attacked a physically challenged daughter of the owner of the house and threatened to rape the mother.
Judge Lengalenga said to brutally attack a handicapped person in a wheelchair without any compassion was shameful.
“The evidence of the violence and brutality was shocking and even the attempt to rape an elderly woman goes to show the moral decay in the values of our society in Zambia,” she said.
Judge Lengalenga said Phiri was so heartless in the manner in which she attacked the handicapped girl.
She said the statutory minimum sentence for the offence Phiri and Chembe had committed was 15 years but she sentenced the duo to 20 years because there were aggravating factors.

Posted by Kunda on June 8, 2014. Filed under CRIME. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry