By NORMA SIAME  –
A KASAMA shop owner, who killed an employee by stabbing him in the stomach with a pair of scissors, has been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for murder.
Kasama High Court Judge Charles Chanda, jailed Boas Simukonda, 43, of house number C50 Location Township, a shop owner at Chambeshi market, for the murder of Patrick Chileshe on October 31, last year.
Mr Chileshe’s wife Alice Mulenga testified in court how she received a call from a person who identified herself as Juma who told her that her husband was admitted to hospital.
When she arrived at Kasama General Hospital, Ms Mulenga found her husband, who had a four centimeter long gash on his abdomen, admitted to the casualty ward in a state of unconsciousness.
When he later gained consciousness and a bit of strength, he narrated the circumstances that led to the stabbing.
Mr Chileshe told his wife that he had gone to Simukonda’s shop with a potential customer that was looking for a small suitcase to buy.
Simukonda was at the time in the shop cutting a piece of chitenge material with a pair of scissors while observing the haggling process. Unfortunately the customer did not buy the case as it was not the colour he was looking for.
Simukonda asked why Mr Chileshe had allowed the potential customer to leave without buying anything, accusing him of having inflated the price of the suitcase from K75 to K110.
Simukonda then instructed Mr Chileshe to chase after the customer. The deceased refused because the market was too big to go looking for a lone customer.
The refusal to chase after the customer did not please Simukonda who accused Mr Chileshe of destroying his business and shouted at him to leave his shop.
In the process of leaving, a ‘boiling-mad’ Simukonda stabbed Mr Chileshe in the stomach. he was rushed to hospital by one of Simukonda’s employees but passed away on the operating table at the hospital.
A police officer, Elliot Besa, who attended the postmortem, testified that the deceased’s stomach was full of blood and had a deep cut.
In his defence, Simukonda claimed that he lost a customer because Mr Chileshe inflated the price of the suit case leading to a verbal fight between the two.
Simukonda said he then told Mr Chileshe to leave the shop and that as he was trying to lift his hand, the scissors slipped from his hand to stab Mr Chileshe.
He also claimed he had no upper body strength  to stab someone because he had suffered a stroke.
It was, however, established during cross examination that the stroke had only affected the lower part of his body while the upper part had continued to function normally.
Delivering judgment, Mr Justice Chanda said he could not take into account the defence of provocation.
“It is well known that business is risky and one can either make profit or loss. Whenever customer enters  a shop is no guarantee  that the customer will buy,” the judge said.