By NORMA SIAME –
A MAN of Mansa has earned himself a one-year jail term with hard labour for publicly assaulting a married woman who turned down his love proposal.
Levi Sikazwe, aged 30, accosted Christine Mwaba, 29, at a market place but after refusing his overture, he resorted to beating her. The incident happened on March 20 this year.
In the process, Ms Mwaba sustained a swollen cheek while punches to her head left her with impaired hearing to one ear as well as bleeding from her eyes and ears.
Magistrate George Mulenga jailed Sikazwe in Mansa yesterday.
Sikazwe claimed in defence that he approached the victim to advise her to put on shoes as she was noticed walking barefoot.
“I only approached her and asked her to wear shoes, but she answered me that I should go and ask my father, which annoyed me,” he said.
In mitigation, Sikazwe pleaded with the court stating that his mother had passed away and had a maize field to attend to.
Mr Mulenga said while Sikazwe was a first offender, who deserved lenience, the court still had a duty to perform in administering justice.
“Your behaviour was bad as you acted like an animal. You assaulted a defenceless woman for merely turning down your proposal. It is the duty of this court to protect women from characters like you and custodial sentence of 12 months imprisonment with hard labour should be enough to rehabilitate you,” Mr Mulenga said.
