By NORMA SIAME?  –

A MAN of Mungwi District in Northern Province that bragged of being strong as he bludgeoned his brother-in-law to death with an axe handle has been sentenced to five years imprisonment with hard labour.
Appearing before Kasama High Court Judge Petronella Ngulube was Geoffrey Bwalya who was convicted of killing his in-law Clement Butetu.
According to facts before court, Bwalya on June 8, 2012 arrived home straight from a drinking spree at midnight and found two people in his house.?He then armed himself with an axe handle and dragged the duo, that turned out to be his brother-in-law and his sister Veronica Bwalya, outside.
He struck Mr Butetu with the axe handle as the his brother-in-law cried out in pain asking the assailant to stop as he was his brother-in-law.?When Veronica tried to intervene, Bwalya struck her too on her forehead rendering her unconscious as he shouted he was not one to be messed with and boasted of herculean strength.?Onlookers that included Bwalya’s mother Belita Bwalya failed to dissuade him from his continued beating of Mr Butetu who was by then reduced to bloody mess.
Mrs Bwalya was seen peering through a crack in the door as Bwalya attacked Mr Butetu.?Mr Butetu’s wife Mary Sampa, who was Bwalya’s sister as well, was awoken by her husband’s cries and she rushed to the scene where she found her brother indiscriminately hitting her spouse with an axe handle.?Ms Sampa asked her brother why he was hitting her husband and his only?response was “me I beat.”
She eventually persuaded him to hand over the axe handle to her and?Veronica who was unconscious and had deep cuts on her forehead and Mr?Butetu were rushed to the hospital where the latter died.? In mitigation, his lawyer from Legal Aid Keith Katazo said Bwalya  was a first offender who readily pleaded guilty.?Ms Justice Ngulube said: “I have noted the submissions of the learned counsel. However, had the convict been more temperamental, the death would not have occurred. I therefore, sentence the convict to five years imprisonment with hard labour with effect  from the date of arrest.”
She, however, informed him of his right of appeal to the Supreme Court.