The Dedza First Grade Magistrate Court has sentenced two men to 14 years imprisonment with hard labour and another two men to 10 years for conspiracy co commit a felony contrary to section 404 of penal code and Robbery contrary to section 301 of penal code.
Dedza police station spokesperson Edward Kabango identified the convicts as LLoyd Phiri 41 from kapalamula village T/A Kachere and Edward Bengo 43 from Kaphuka village were sentenced to 14 years while Human Kumtunda 30 from Kamtande village in the area of T/A Kamenyagwaza and Steve Fredson from the same Village were sentenced to 10 years. All the convicts are from Dedza.
According to Kabango, the court heard that the four on 3rd November 2016 at around 1900 hours at Bembeke Trading centre robbed a Burundi national business lady Chrsitina Elieza money amounting to K3.5 Million.
They were arrested after through investigations and they all pleaded not guilty to the charge.The state paraded four witnesses who all testified against them.
“In mitigations they all asked the court for leniency saying they have family obligations. But the state pleaded with the court to give them stiff punishment bearing in mind that they are notorious criminals who are also serving a 14 jail term for another robbery case.
“Passing sentence Magistrate Richie Gomani concurred with the state that the four needed a stiff punishment as they are not first time offenders. He then sentenced them to 14 years and 10 years respectively,”Kabango said.
The sentences are to run consecutively with another 14 years they received last month.
