Poultry farmer of Lusaka West jailed six years for killing 16 years old pregnant niece

A poultry farmer of Lusaka West has been jailed six years with hard labour for killing his 16-year-old pregnant niece, by cutting her throat and disposing off the body in a pit latrine.

These horrific acts were committed by Amos Dubeka, 33, on March 7, 2021, who readily pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter before the Lusaka High Court.

Amos, who has been in prison since his arrest in 2021, was initially charged for the murder of Joyce Dubeka, but was reduced to manslaughter.

However, on Friday, the Prosecution applied to have the charged amended, which Judge Mwape Bowa granted.

Amos in mitigation asked for leniency saying the trauma that he killed his niece would haunt him throughout his life.

Judge Bowa sentenced the accused to six years with hard labour.

“I have learnt about your remorsefulness and trauma knowing that you were responsible for the death of a family member. The facts make sad reading hope the sentence will give you the opportunity to reflect and give closure,” he said.

Facts are that on March 7, 2021, Amos asked his niece to assist him to clean the poultry house. As the did the cleaning, he told the victim that he would help her terminate the pregnancy. It is believed the niece was not desirous of keeping the pregnancy.

After she agreed, he administered some unknown medicines, and soon after she collapsed and white foam came out of her mouth.

After he was convinced that she had died, he went into panic as he feared he would be blamed for her death.

Amos then got a knife and cut her throat, thereafter, dumped the body in one of the pit latrines at the farm.

He was however seen by one of the farm workers, Grenda Hampungani, carrying a sack to one of the toilets,and when the search for her was conducted, she hinted to the search team to check the toilets.

According to a postmortem examination, the cause of the victim’s death was found to be sharp force trauma to neck due to assault.

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