A 22-year-old man of Mambwe has been sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour for axing his one-and-half-year-old stepchild to death for allegedly eating too much food in his house.

Justin Mtonga, of Sign farms under Chief Jumbe, axed his stepson, Laston Mbewe, on the head and dumped his body on the road in September 2023 after accusing him of having too much appetite.

Mtonga denied the charge of murder before Lusaka-based High Court Judge Koreen Zimba.

National Prosecution Authority (NPA) senior state advocate Nchimunya Mkombwe called four witnesses to prove the case of murder against Mtonga.

During trial, his wife Misozi Banda told the court that her husband did not like her child and always complained that he was eating too much food.
Banda testified that her husband would refer to his stepson as a dog because he was eating too much.

“Before we got married, he promised to take care of me and my child but when we got married, he started complaining that the child was eating too much,” she said.

“He would call him a dog sometimes because of the same reason of eating too much.”

Zambia Daily Mail
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