By George Nkhuwa
ABOUT STABBING A WIFE TO DEATH BELIEVING SHE IS AN ANIMAL
Mr. Sankalimba and his wife, Theresa Sankalimba, had been married for fourteen years and together had five children. Mr. Sankalimba was a businessman whose enterprise was doing very well, and the couple generally enjoyed a happy marriage.
One morning, Mr. Sankalimba’s nephew, Wellington Mukuka, and his brother in law, Joseph Mumba, were off loading goods from his truck when Mr. Sankalimba asked his wife, Theresa, to look for a cheque in their bedroom, which he wished to deposit at the bank that morning. After a short while, thinking that Theresa might have forgotten where she had placed the cheque, Mr. Sankalimba went into the bedroom “to try and help” her trace it.
Upon entering the bedroom, Mr. Sankalimba took out a pocket knife and stabbed his wife three times in the chest, causing serious injuries. He immediately reported himself to the police and surrendered. Theresa died a day later, and Mr. Sankalimba was arrested and charged with one count of murder.
In his defence, Mr. Sankalimba stated:
“When I entered I did not see clearly because the bedroom was dark. I tried to open the wardrobe door. It seemed as if I had provoked something which looked like a fox or dog. I started struggling with it. There is very little room in my bedroom… The bedroom is congested; I had little space to manoeuvre. I took out a pocket knife and stabbed the thing I thought was an animal. I stabbed it more than once. I then heard my wife saying: ‘Oh Sankalimba, help me, I am being attacked.’”
He explained that it was at that moment he realised that the “animal” he thought he was stabbing was in fact his wife. He maintained that he believed he was being attacked by a fox or dog due to hallucinations. He therefore claimed that he did not know or appreciate, immediately before and during the act of stabbing, that the victim was a human being, and indeed, his wife.
The High Court rejected Mr. Sankalimba’s claim that he believed his wife to be an attacking animal. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to death.
Disenchanted with the judgment, Mr. Sankalimba appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court allowed the appeal and set aside the conviction for murder, holding that Mr. Sankalimba was not criminally responsible for his actions because, at the time of the incident, his mental illness rendered him incapable of understanding what he was doing, bringing him within section 12 of the Penal Code.
The Court held that Mr. Sankalimba was not guilty by reason of insanity and ordered that he be detained during the President’s pleasure, meaning he would be held in a secure facility (such as Chainama Hospital) for an unspecified period, to be released only when authorised by the President.
The implication of this case is that where, due to mental illness, an accused person is incapable of understanding the nature of their act at the time of the offence, they are not criminally responsible, and the proper verdict is a special finding of not guilty by reason of insanity, followed by detention during the President’s pleasure.
In this case, the Supreme Court accepted evidence of hallucinations and mental disorder, found that Mr. Sankalimba believed he was stabbing an animal rather than his wife, and concluded that he was incapable of understanding his actions at the material time.
Case Citation: Sankalimba v People (S.C.Z. Judgment 33 of 1980) [1980] ZMSC 31 (3 December 1980)