By SYLVIA  MWEETWA –

A THIRTY-TWO-YEAR-OLD banker who ran over and killed three pedestrians in Kapiri Mposhi last year due to speeding has escaped incarceration after the court fined him K9,000.
Chilekwa Chilumba was facing three counts of causing death by dangerous driving, a charge he pleaded guilty to.
Chilumba on December 20, 2014  caused the death of Febby Ngosa, Mwiba Mutale and Saffy Ngosa all of Kapiri Mposhi District while driving a Mercedes Benz registration number ADD 2104 along the Ndola-Kapiri Mposhi highway.
The accident happened when Chilumba overtook a truck and lost control and hit the three who were walking on the side of the road killing them instantly.
According to the postmortem conducted on the three, they sustained fatal injuries and had head trauma.
Defence lawyer Francis Nanguzyambo in mitigation pleaded for leniency, saying his client did not waste the court’s time by admitting the charge.
Captain Nanguzyambo said his client contributed towards the funeral expenses and the insurance had compensated the family a sum of K50,000 through the administrator which he was charged, bearing in mind that lives were lost.
Kabwe High Court Judge-in-Charge Dominic Sichinga said it was sad that lives were lost in such a manner which could have been avoided.
He said that the sentence carries both a fine and imprisonment but exercised leniency and fined him K3,000 for each count to be paid immediately or face a nine months jail sentence.
The court also suspended his driving licence for 18 months and ordered that he undergoes fresh driving lessons.