FOUR Lusaka men and a woman have been sentenced t o d e a t h f o r a g g r a v a t e d robbery involving over K11 million belonging to New Future Financial Limited Company. This is in a case the five convicts, Henry Chitundu, alias Alibaba, Francis Chanda, John Kawena, Davy Mumba and Catherine Kabuswe, were charged with four counts of aggravated robbery.

On March 2 last year, the five, while armed with a firearm, stole seven title deeds and two white books, all valued at K11, 016,700, from Fang Hexiang. The stolen properties belonged to New Future Financial Limited Company. In the second count, facts are that on the same date, they stole a mobile phone and K10,000 cash, all valued at K11,800, property of He Shengyue. In the third count, facts are that on the same dates, the five stole a mobile phone and K82,800 cash, all valued at K87,000, property of Feng Hexiang.

In the fourth count, on the same date, the five, while armed with a firearm, stole a wrist watch, a mobile phone and two laptops, all valued at K11,000, property of Wan Song. At the time of the crimes, the five used threats and violence when stealing the properties. Facts are that on the material day in the morning, Mr Feng and Mr Wan were operating from New Future Financial Limited Company on number five, Ntoyo Road, in Woodlands, Lusaka.

The company is in the business of issuing loans to the public upon a deposit of a certificate of title or White Book as collateral. With the aid of Kawena and Kabuswe, who were at the time New Future Financial Limited Company employees, Chitundu, Chanda and Mumba, in the company of some unknown people, raided the company premises.

During the raid, the trio and others stole various sums of money and property before the matter was later reported to police. Following investigations conducted with the help of closed circuit television surveillance footage obtained f r o m t h e c o m p a n y, t h e convicts were implicated and subsequently charged with the offences.

The accused denied the charges but were later convicted after 13 witnesses testified against them. The first witness was Gilbert Chileshe, a security guard at the company, who told the court that on the material day, he was accosted by the assailants, who disembarked from a Grey Noah vehicle. Mr Chileshe said the attackers then bundled him and some Chinese employees in an office toilet. He said the assailants, among them Chitundu, whom he identified, demanded money while beating the victims with iron bars and a firearm.

When the matter came up for judgment on Monday, Lusaka High Court judge Pixie Yangailo found the convicts guilty of the offence and that they conspired to commit the crime. “I am satisfied that the accused persons acted in joint consent, dividing specific roles to each other for purposes of achieving their objective to steal,” Judge Yangailo said.

She found that there was visible video footage linking Chitundu and Mumba to the offence and circumstantial evidence connecting Chanda, Kawena and Kabuswe to the crimes. Judge Yangailo said the offences committed by the convicts were very serious, especially that a firearm was used. “You shall be hanged by the neck until pronounced dead. May God have mercy on your souls,” Judge Yangailo ruled as the convict’s relatives left the court wailing as others threw themselves to the ground in shock.