By DELPHINE ZULU –
A 27-YEAR-OLD Congolese woman has escaped deportation in a matter where she was facing one count of unlawful stay after magistrate David Simusamba delivered an absolute discharge judgment.
The woman Uwimana Marie Clair was arrested on January 5 this year and had since been in detention with her two daughters aged nine, a Congolese and a four-year-old Zambian.
When the matter came up for facts and sentencing Magistrate Simusamba said he would exercise leniency on her and imposed an absolute discharge.
He further ordered the Immigration Department to legalise her stay and hand her over to any refugee camp.
“  I will exercise leniency on you, you are hereby absolutely discharge in accordance with the law, but ensure you legalise your stay in Zambia,” he said.
Facts were that on January 5, 2018 immigration officers took operations in Lusaka’s Kamwala where they came across the convict and her younger brother and upon interrogations apprehended them for unlawful stay.
The convict is said to have entered Zambia through the DRC bush path fleeing from war in 2015.
When asked how she had been sustaining her life, Clair said she had siblings at Mayukwayukwa refugee camp and another brother who had been helping her with food.
She said the father of her second daughter was Zambian but deserted her, a situation which forced her to start staying with her younger brother who has since been taken to Mayukwayukwa refugee camp.
In mitigation, Clair asked for leniency and to be taken to the refugee camp to reunite with her siblings.
After sentence, she thanked the Zambian Judiciary for a fair judgment.