A day after being jailed, convicted Patriotic Front (PF) faction secretary general Raphael Nakacinda yesterday appeared in court for a hate speech crime he is accused of commiting.
The outspoken politician and businessman was supposed to open his defence but failed to do so on account of ill health related to his voice.
This is in a case Nakacinda is charged with hate speech wherein it is alleged that he expressed or showing hatred, ridicule or contempt for persons because of their race, tribe, place or origin or colour.
Allegations are that between April 18 and 22, 2022, he allegedly uttered hateful words against the Tonga of Southern Province, claims he denied, before the court found him with a case to answer.
When the case resumed for opening defence on Monday, the court heard that Nakacinda was unable to speak due to a vocal code-related ailment.
A defence lawyer informed Lusaka magistrate Idah Phiri that his client is sick, before the case was adjourned
And when it resumed yesterday, defence lawyer Nkula Botha said Nakacinda was still unwell and that he had gone to the hospital to seek medical attention on Monday but the procedure was curtailed.
“The circumstances are beyond our control and we will be praying that the court grants us a very short adjournment, convenient to the court to allow our client to recover,” Mr Botha said.
But senior public prosecutor Michael Nundwe said the state was at pains with the adjournment plea, especially that no document was adduced in court to prove the sickness.
“Legally, such applications are always supported by documentation from qualified medical staff.
“The application is not made in good spirit. We urged the court not to allow this application. We maintain that we proceed to defence,” he said.
But Mr Botha said the accused was on self-medication and that on Monday, he had gone to Midland Hospital to see a physician but that “In the course of him being attended to [by a doctor], he got news that there was an issue of a warrant for his arrest.
“Hence he left in a hurry to hand himself over to the police. And that he will continue to see the doctor from the hospital or clinic within the facility” the lawyer said before the matter was adjourned to next month.
(Mwebantu)
Ma politican who get sick when reality sets in and their hopes of appeal are dashed….yet the rest of us should live in reality…
Welcome to our world, were the law is applied
Yes,I saw and heard him speaking very arrogantly in front of cameras before handing himself over to the courts.One wouldn’t believe he was straight from hospital and not from inside a ceiling board
A self styled “martyr” has cracked on day one..kikikikikiki