For the second time within two months, a suspected drug dealer has been given two different sentences in two different courts for the same crime.
28 year old Bright Kafula of Kitwe’s Kwacha Compound was
arrested on 22 May, 2018 with 51 rolls of marijuana which the Police weighed
and found to be 6.4 kilograms.
Kafula, who is popularly known as Kamasu, is believed to be
the main supplier of drugs to criminal gangs like the Tokota Boys, the 90
Niggas and the Sons of the Devil gangs which have wrecked havoc in Kitwe, a
major mining town and Zambia’s second largest city.
Over 60 gangs members are before various courts appearing for several cases such as rape, assault, unlawful wounding, idle and disorderly conduct, among other charges.
And Kafula is suspected to be the main supplier of drugs to these gangs which are mainly composed of teenagers and beat Kitwe residents at night in neighbourhoods where they have "shared" territory.
Over 60 gangs members are before various courts appearing for several cases such as rape, assault, unlawful wounding, idle and disorderly conduct, among other charges.
And Kafula is suspected to be the main supplier of drugs to these gangs which are mainly composed of teenagers and beat Kitwe residents at night in neighbourhoods where they have "shared" territory.
Few days after being arrested, Kafula was taken to the Kitwe
Magistrate’s Court.
Police handed over the 6.4 KGs of the marijuana to the Drug
Enforcement Commission (DEC) which prosecutes such cases.
The bag containing 51 rolls of marijuana which Police officers found in Kafula's house |
However, State Prosecutors at the court filed an affidavit
which charged Kafula with trafficking 6.4 grams of marijuana
instead of the 6.4 KGs Police found him with.
During trial, the suspect admitted having trafficked the drugs
and pleaded for leniency.
On 30 May, Kitwe Magistrate Dominic Lesa found Kafula guilty
and sentenced him to two months imprisonment but he suspended the sentence for
24 months.
This judgement was based on the 6.4 grams.
This judgement shocked Police officers who had arrested Kafula with the 6.4 KGs marijuana which he had hidden at home in a bag popularly known as Ukwa bag.
This judgement shocked Police officers who had arrested Kafula with the 6.4 KGs marijuana which he had hidden at home in a bag popularly known as Ukwa bag.
But when Copperbelt Police Commissioner Charity Katanga
heard about the judgement, she complained that the evidence Police collected
was not what was presented in court.
Ms Katanga told this blogger in an intyerview at the time that Police were shocked and disappointed that the 51 rolls of marijuana which was
found in Kafula’s house weighed 6.4 kilograms and not what
Prosecutors presented in court.
"This is so disappointing. We catch a criminal with drugs and go and reduce the evidence in court. We are shocked at the way this case has been handled. We are appealing this case so that the High Court can review it and see if the suspect can be tried for the real crime he was arrested for," said an angry sounding Katanga.
The audio of her disappointment can be heard in this television report this blogger did for Zambia's state broadcaster TV1 on 31 May 2018.
"This is so disappointing. We catch a criminal with drugs and go and reduce the evidence in court. We are shocked at the way this case has been handled. We are appealing this case so that the High Court can review it and see if the suspect can be tried for the real crime he was arrested for," said an angry sounding Katanga.
A Ministry of Health analyst confirms receiving 6.4 KGs |
The audio of her disappointment can be heard in this television report this blogger did for Zambia's state broadcaster TV1 on 31 May 2018.
Later, the National Prosecution Authority appealed the case
to the Kitwe High Court so that Kafula can be tried again.
But at the end of the judicial review, the Kitwe High Court quashed the 24 months suspended sentence slapped by the Kitwe Magistrates’ Court on Kafula and replaced it with a six months jail term with hard labour.
Kitwe High Court Judge Timothy Katanekwa said the decision
by the Kitwe Magistrates Court to suspend a sentence for someone who accepted
trafficking in drugs shocked him and defeats the purpose of the court.
Passing judgement, Justice Katanekwa said he arrived at the judgement
considering the 6. 4 grams which he was charged with and the fact that
Kafula had accepted the charge and was a first offender.
The court later called for specialists to analyse the drugs which were before court.
But the High Court still did not find grounds to admit the argument by the state to admit the 6.4 KGs.
This is despite the fact that Sumbukeni Kowa, an analyst
from the Ministry of Health confirmed receiving 6.4 kilograms of
marijuana which the DEC provided to him for analysis as
part of evidence in court.
But in his judgement, Justice Katanekwa says the argument that
Kafula was found with 6.4 KGs of marijuana does not stand
because the affidavit filed by Kowa cannot be relied upon.
Judge Katanekwa's judgement |
It is however unclear whether the National Prosecution Authority will further appeal the Kitwe High Court's judgement to the Supreme Court especially that Kafula has again been sentenced based on a lower amount of drugs than he was found with.
With this six months jail term which is effected from his day of arrest 22 May 2018, it means Kafula will walk out of the Kamfinsa Correctional Facility in Kitwe in November this year.
He is reported to be a close friend of Mwamba Siame, a top "Commander" of the Tokota Boys criminal gang whose 20 members where caught on video assaulting a teenager and forcing him to eat his own faecal matter for belonging to a rival "The Hundreds" gang.
Siame, who is popularly known as Mayweather in the gang, has been on the Police "Most Wanted List" since May 2018 as he is the one who violently beat the teenager with stones and sticks in the video which went viral on social media.
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