By SYLVIA MWEETWA-
THE Kabwe High Court has sentenced a 22-year-old Mkushi youth to 15 years imprisonment with hard labour for snatching a tray of buns while armed with a firearm.
Facts before the court were that Joseph Simukonda on May 6, 2013 stole from Beatrice Mumba a pan of buns worth K12 while armed with a shotgun.
Simukonda was facing one count of aggravated robbery, a charge he denied.
But during trial, Ms Mumba, testified that on the day in question, Simukonda entered her shop like an ordinary customer but later produced a shotgun and demanded money, while threatening to shoot her if she raised alarm.
She testified that at the time of the incident, she had a baby on her back and feared for her life.
She therefore decided to hide behind the counter.
Simukonda insisted on being given the money and even shot in the air to scare her but that the the gun shot attracted onlookers outside the shop.
This forced Simukonda to attempt to flee with the buns but was apprehended by the crowd and handed to police.
In mitigation, Simukonda asked for forgiveness.
He said the period he had spent in custody since his arrest, had taught him a lesson and that as a youth, he was ready to be a better person if given a chance.
In Passing Judgment Kabwe High Court judge-in-charge Mwiinde Siavwapa sentenced him to 15 years imprisonment and said his action was uncalled for.
In the same court, a 32-year-old Mkushi man who set his parents’ house on fire, has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment with hard abour.
This is in a case in which George Mambusha pleaded guilty to an arson charge for burning Frank Moyo’s house on April 15, 2012.
He told the court that he acted in such manner because he was sick at the time and was not happy that his parents refused to collect his herbs from the witch doctor for a week and that it seemed to him that they did not want him to get better.
Particulars of the offence were that Mambusha on the day in question differed with his parents over the collection of the medicine and he later set the house ablaze in protest against their refusal.