By KASONDE KASONDE –

A NDOLA high court has sentenced two men to 10 years imprisonment each with hard labour for vandalising solar street lights.
High Court Judge Yvonne Chembe sent to jail Shadreck Bwalya and Emmanuel Chilufya of Mufulira to 10 years imprisonment, while a juvenile offender has been placed under probation at Katombora Reformatory School.
The three were charged with vandalism and stealing of batteries used to power street lights which are the property of Mufulira Municipal Council.
The offence was committed between February 2014 and November 2014, when the convicts vandalised 19 street lights and stole 38 batteries which were essential for provision of light along the Mufulira-Sabina Road.
In the same court, a Mufulira resident has been convicted and sentenced to four years in jail for stealing three palm trees along Chatulinga Street meant to beautify the area.
This is contained in a statement by Mufulira Municipal Council public relations officer Melvin Mukela.
Mr Mukela said the local authority was happy with the judgment as this would deter would-be offenders.
Meanwhile, a 32-year-old woman of Kabwe, Central Province, on Monday narrated before a Kabwe judge how four men armed with a pistol robbed and raped her at a farm in Mkushi District last year.
The case involves Moses Mwape, Davies Chisenga, Thomas Kasuba and Charles Saulos who are facing three counts of aggravated robbery.
The victim, informed High Court Judge-in-charge Dominic Sichinga the four allegedly stole money amounting to K2,152, a radio cassette player, a blanket, a battery charging machine and assorted groceries valued at K9,686 and that they used violence to obtain the goods.
She said on the night of the attack around 21:00 hours, the four appeared, as she was seated outside with her brother at the farm and asked to speak to the owner of the farm.
She said after informing the men that the owner of the farm was not around, one of the men fired a guns in the air and told her and her brother to enter the house.
The men started beating her and other people she was with at the farm after which they demanded for money.
She s led one of the men to the master bedroom where the money was kept and gave him but he insisted that the money was not enough and that she was hiding some money after which he tore her trouser and raped her.
Another witness narrated that on November 19, 2014, around 21:00 hours four men entered her farm house where she and four other people were working and threatened them with a gun.
She told the court that one of the men dragged her to the shop within the farm where he tore her chitenge and raped her.
She said afterwards the other men brought in her colleagues to the shop and tied them before locking them inside.
Trial continues.