The Mansa Magistrate’s Court has sentenced a 27-year-old peasant farmer of Kale village in Mansa to three years imprisonment with hard labour for biting his five-month pregnant wife on her private parts. Derrick Chiluba, who pleaded guilty to one count of assault, told the court that he did not intend to harm his wife but was merely performing his duties as a husband. Chiluba said this was in accordance with what he was taught by counsellors when they were preparing him for marriage. He was facing one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Chiluba assaulted Annie Chalwe on September 24 this year. In mitigation, Chiluba pleaded with the court to be lenient as he was a first offender.

“Your honour, if I am sent to prison, my children will suffer because there will be no one to care for them. I am the breadwinner, I deeply regret my action,” he said.
But delivering the sentence, principal resident magistrate Prince Mwiinga said he had considered Chiluba’s mitigation and that he did not waste the court’s time by readily pleading guilty to the offence.
Magistrate Mwiinga, however, said the circumstances under which Chiluba committed the offence were aggravating as he hurt his wife over food.
“It’s sad that you bit your own wife on her private parts. And as if that was not enough, you got a scissors and threatened to kill her with it.
“It will be a strong message to would-be offenders by sending you to jail for three years. I hope your time in incarceration will help you become a better person,” he said.
Facts before the court were that on that day around 23:00 hours, Chiluba returned home from a drinking spree and asked for food from his wife but she refused to give him.
The court heard that Ms Chalwe was fast asleep when her husband bit her on her private parts.
She was rushed to the hospital where she was admitted for treatment. Chiluba was arrested and charged with assault.