2017-12-19Staff Report 2 Aron Mushaukwa Katima Mulilo-A Katima Mulilo magistrate sentenced 30-year-old Victor Ilukena from Ikumwe in the Zambezi region to 18 years imprisonment for the murder of Patrick Mwambwa Sinvula in November 2015. It was established during the trial that Ilukena murdered Sinvula in November 2015 after beating him to death for allegedly “stealing his clothes”. During his sentencing, Ilukena pleaded with the court to give him a lesser sentence. He stated that he regretted what he did and if he were to go back in time, he could do things differently. He also asked for the family of the late Sinvula to forgive him. “Even though they are in pain, it was not my wish for the loss, everything happened because I was drunk. Mwambwa was my friend and I know that he cannot come back, but I am sorry for what I did. “I am pleading with the court to forgive me, and not send me to jail for a long time. I haven’t been myself for the past two years I have been in custody. I have been very disturbed because of what happened,” he said. State Prosecutor George Matali was not moved by Ilukena’s plea for forgiveness, arguing that his plea was not genuine, and that he was doing it for formality’s sake. He stressed that Sinvula was killed “in a cruel, barbaric and inhuman way, a person he claims was his friend”. Matali had initially asked Magistrate Mbongani Ndlovu to send Ilukena to prison for 20 years, however, after a lengthy mitigation, which almost took the entire day, Ndlovu sentenced Ilukena to 18 years imprisonment suspending the other two years he had been in custody since he was arrested. 2017-12-19Staff Report 2
