WIZARD REMARK FAILS TO HOLD DEFAMATION CASE
Written by Millennium on September 7, 2019
LUCY PHIRI writes
@SunZambia
A -61 YEAR old man of Lusaka has sued his friend of 29years in the Chelstone Local Court for calling him a wizard.
Lenny Luhanga of Ng’ombe Township sued his friend George Nsonga,64 of the same area for defamation of character.
The two appeared before presiding magistrate Kennedy Mwansa Mutale sitting with presiding magistrate Mary Namangala.
Luhanga told court that on August 26 when he was going to the market got surprised when he saw his friend coming towards him with a big stick.
“My friend came with a stick towards me and blocked my way, before I even asked him he punched me in my head and called me a wizard, claiming that I am the one who is bewitching him,
“He said that he always dreams of me bewitching him and I told him he’s the one bewitching me because I have been sick since 2012,” he said.
Luhanga said Nsonga then picked a stone and wanted to throw it on him but a lady who was passing by rescued him and he later reported the matter to police.
In defence Nsonga admitted of calling Luhanga a wizard that he was the one who bewitched him because he had proof.
“I am building a house, so he came to ask if I can build a house for him and I said no because I wasn’t the one building but my son, and since then he stopped talking to me and whenever we meet on the road he doesn’t not respond to my greetings,
“One day I was in the house with my wife, and suddenly I heard him talking in my house without knowing where he entered from, he kept asking how we built such a big house and nobody responded because we wondered why he could enter the house when he wasn’t talking to me,” he said.
He said later he discovered that his manhood was not working even after drinking sexual boosters.
And key witness Felix Simpasa,55 of the same area confirmed that Luhanga told him that he would bewitch him just like his friend whose manhood stopped functioning.
On hearing statements from both parties, the court ruled that there was no defamation of character because Nsonga uttered the words when they were just the two of them hence defamation could not pass.
