By SYLVIA MWEETWA –
THE Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence slapped on a Kalabo based police officer and two others for brutally killing a man on suspicion that he had bewitched them.
Supreme Court Judge Muyinda Wanki sitting with other Supreme Court Judges in Kabwe threw out the appeal against the death sentence by the trio because it lacked merit.
Charles Masumba, a police officer, Chinyama Chinyama and Wamundila Nosiku were sentenced to death by a Mongu High Court in April 2013 but they appealed against the conviction and sentence.
During trial, the court heard how the three while acting together in Kalabo District killed Daniel Lwanga using fists and sticks before soaking him in water on suspicion that he had bewitched Masumba’s business.
Witnesses narrated that the beating of the deceased happened in the bar owned by Masumba and in the full view of other patrons who had gone to drink  beer.
The appellants believed that the deceased was a wizard and had just gone to the bar to see how the business was failing.
At the closure of the case, the three were found with a case to answer and put on their defence but they maintained  their innocence and denied beating the deceased.
The lower court found the three guilty and sentenced them to death to hang by the neck until pronounced dead.
The three later appealed to the Supreme Court against the sentence which threw out the application because it lacked merit and upheld the sentence.
The Supreme Court also upheld the 15-year jail sentence slapped on a Livingstone man for indecently assaulting a woman.