Uncle loses case against three nephews

MUTINTA MULAYE writes

THE Boma Local Court has thrown out a defamation claim in which a man took his three nephews to court for accusing him of being a wizard.

Samuel Chitandula walked out of the court a disappointed man after the court dismissed his claim.
The matter was before senior local court magistrate Bertha Zulu.
Chitandula told the court that Lawrence Chitandula, Wallet Chitandula and Mwika Chitandula were children of his late younger brother.

He told the court that in 2018, Lawrence, Mwika and a friend of theirs asked him if they could go and have some prayers in his house.

“They said their brother was sick and they wanted him to be prayed for and I allowed it. They came as a family with food and all their things. What surprised me was that the pastors they came with came with holy water.

“I wasn’t the one who was sick but they gave me 2.5 litres of the water to drink and the others shared the other water,” Chitandula testified.

He then told the court that he sued his nephews because later they each started phoning him accusing him of being a wizard and saying that he wanted to kill their younger brother.

He said his nephews also threatened him that they would go with a gun and shoot him.
“Only one of their brothers didn’t say anything about shooting me. I even told my wife that they had called me a wizard. I want my sons to tell me why they want to kill me and where they saw me practicing witchcraft,” Chitandula said.

He told the court he wanted his nephews to give him the two guns his younger brother had left behind, a tractor, trailer and a plough.
All the three siblings denied calling Chitandula a wizard and said their uncle needed help which they were going to render to him because they cared about him as their only remaining parent.

They also denied knowing anything about the guns he mentioned.
Wallet told the court that he had never differed with his uncle and that all the times they exchanged phone calls it was always peaceful.

Mwika told the court before the prayers, their uncle had also complained of some body pains and that was why he was also prayed for.
“He asked to be prayed for and we proceeded because he is our only remaining parent and we care about him. We have always been at peace with him. I was actually surprised to receive the summons saying we had called him a wizard,” Mwika said.

The court found that there was no law that put siblings as the beneficiaries of a dead person’s estate where the immediate beneficiaries were still living.

Chitandula, therefore, could not claim any property left by his late brother. Magistrate Zulu also ruled defamation of character out because there was not enough evidence to show that his nephews had accused him of being a wizard.