Simon Mwewa Lane spends first night in jail

Simon Mwewa spends first night in jail

SIMON Mwewa has spent the first night of his six months in prison following his jailing for malicious damage.

The blogger and self-appointed national teacher of the King’s language earned himself legal trouble when he deflated tyres of Ricky Nyimbili’s minibus which he thought it was improperly parked on the busy Kalusha Bwalya Road next to his Simoson Building last June.

Following the incident, Mwewa was summoned to the police station by constable James Lungu who interviewed him for malicious damage to property.

The officer testified in court that Mwewa denied deflating the tyres of the bus in question but admitted deflating the tyres of another bus that was parked on Simon Mwewa Lane near Simoson building.

“I wasn’t satisfied with his explanation, I charged him with malicious damage to property and under warn and caution he denied the charge. A sharp instrument was used. I asked him to produce it but he (Mwewa) walked away,” said Lungu.

At trial, Mwewa was found with a case to answer and was given an opportunity to defend himself but opted to remain silent.

And so yesterday, Mwewa was convicted by magistrate Fine Mayambu and sent to jail for six months.

The conviction announcement disoriented Mwewa so much that he needed close to a two-minute lecture to understand the meaning of mitigation.

Upon being asked to mitigate, Mwewa asked the magistrate to explain the meaning of the word.

After the lesson of what mitigation means, Mwewa pleaded for the Court’s leniency saying he was a family man and first offender.

“This is my first offence without sounding redundant I am a family man. I beg for the courts leniency,” Chitambala said.

In handing down the sentence, magistrate Mayambu said Mwewa’s behaviour was uncalled for as it did not befit his status in society.

He said it is quite disappointing for Mwewa to behave like someone who was not learned when he was supposed to be a role model in society.

“Members of the community are supposed to look up to you as a role model to learn manners. You damaged tyres of a passenger bus without taking due deligence whether there were passengers on board,” said magistrate Mayambu.

“You acted so irresponsibly. This behavior is unacceptable! To send a warning to would be offenders you have to be punished. The offence carries a maximum sentence of two years imprisonment , I therefore sentence you to six months simple imprisonment effective today.”

He granted Mwewa leave to appeal.

The verdict left visible shock on Mwewa’s face who now sat in the dock and sobbed under his mask whilst typing on his phone.

Upon hearing the news of Mwewa’s jailing, Leader of the Economic and Equity party Chilufya Tayali who was within the Court premises awaiting for his mutiny case rushed to magistrate Mayambu’s Court room to peek at Zambia Correctional Service Commissioner General Fredrick Chilukutu’s latest guest.

Eventually, the sombre-looking Mwewa was led to Lusaka Central Correctional Service facility to exchange his trademark reflector vest for the suit that has the same colour as carrots.

With Mwewa behind bars, Chishimba Kambwili and others can speak all the broken English they want and mispronounce words without having to look over their shoulders.

By Mwaka Ndawa

Kalemba January 10, 2024.