By YVONNE CHATE  –
A NDOLA pastor has been acquitted of threatening to kill a man over a disputed piece of land.
Ndola magistrate Oswald Chibalo acquitted Simon Mumba, 31, of house number 7711 Lubuto Township charged with threatening violence.
Mr Chibalo said the prosecution had failed to prove their case against Pastor Mumba, therefore, he ruled in favour of him.
“I doubt if really the prosecution has proved their case against the accused and my doubt should be in favour of the accused, I therefore, acquit the accused of the offence,” he said
The pastor on February 9, allegedly threatened to kill and burn Abraham Phiri within 12 minutes.
Mumba, of Glory to God Church in Lubuto Township, denied the charge but admitted to having had a dispute with Mr Phiri over a piece of land.
He said he had obtained the plot from Ndola City Council but was approached by Mr Phiri that it was his land when he had already started building on it.
Mr Phiri and the pastor had had talks at the Ndola City Council (NCC) over the same piece of land and it was established that there were mistakes in the allocation of the land.
He was, however, not allocated a new piece of land by NCC.
Mr Chibalo said in his ruling that the council was to blame for the dispute and should stop allocating land corruptly.
Mr Phiri testified that he owned a plot numbered SHT 28 in Hillcrest extension which he obtained from the NCC last year for residential purposes.
However, between November and December last year, he found Pastor Mumba building on his piece of land.
He said Pastor Mumba was ordered to stop any further development on the land.
Mr Phiri said on February 9, he visited his plot and found Mumba and three other men he did not know and that the accused started using abusive language towards him.