Dad to hang for murder of 2-year-old daughter (Luwingia, Zambia)

Dad is identified as JOHN MUSONDA.

http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/?p=4951

Luwingu father to hang for killing 2-year-old daughter

June 8, 2012

Filed under: Local News | Posted by: web editor By KATEBE CHENGO

A MAN of Luwingu, who murdered his two-year-old daughter, will also die after the Supreme Court decided yesterday to uphold the lower court’s sentence of death by hanging.

John Musonda, 41, of Kasonde village beat up his daughter to death on suspicion that the toddler might have been sired by his father-in-law.

Musonda appeared before Justice Elizabeth Muyovwe in Ndola, in an appeal case against the Kasama High Court sentence, following the murder conviction.

The offence of murder is contrary to section 200 of the Laws of Zambia.

Particulars of the offence are that on August 26, 2008, Musonda beat up his daughter Ireen Mwamba and dumped her body in a rubbish pit.

During trial, Alice Kasanga, the mother of the toddler, testified that on the material day, her husband went home drunk and asked for the child, who was asleep by then.

“When I woke the child, he gave her food and when she started eating, my husband asked if the relish she was eating belonged to her. When she answered in the negative, he slapped her and started beating her,” she said.

Kasanga testified that her husband dumped the child in a rubbish pit, covered her with a blanket and poured cold water on her before locking himself up in the house to sleep.

She said the following morning when her husband woke up, he went to check on the child, who had one eye closed and the other open. He started beating her again and when he realised that she was dead, he forced the mother to carry the body on her back and they set off for an unknown destination.

“When we crossed the stream with the body still on my back, Musonda ran away and I went to the police station to report the matter,” she said.

And the toddler’s seven-year-old sister, Jennifer, also testified that her father beat the child after returning from a drinking spree.

In his defence, Musonda said his father-in-law was the cause of the problem, because he used to pick up his wife for more than three days.

“My father-in-law is responsible for this problem because he used to play with my wife. When my wife was pregnant, she told me that the child she was carrying may not be mine but may be her father’s or another man’s child.

“I killed the child because I was under the influence of alcohol and I was upset after knowing that the story regarding the child’s paternity had spread in the village,” he said.

Justice Muyovwe said the death of the child was a result of suspicion of infidelity.

“We wish to dispute the fact that he was under the influence of alcohol because even when he sobered up the following morning, he continued beating the defenceless child,” she said.

Justice Muyovwe said Musonda had carefully planned the murder of the child and was just waiting for the time to execute his plans.

She referred to section 201 (1) of the penal code, which states that the mandatory sentence of a person charged with murder is death and that in an instance where there are extenuating circumstances, a convict can be given any other sentence other than death.

“In this case, there were no extenuating circumstances because the appellant carried out the act with a profound sadistic element in the assault. Therefore the appeal is dismissed,” she said.