DO NOT TELL LIES ON OATH, JUDGE WARNS

HIGH Court Judge Catherine Lombe-Phiri has warned members of the public against telling lies on oath in court as they will be sent to prison.

Justice Lombe-Phiri stated that it was a serious offence to not only tell lies but also present forged documents.

She issued this warning after a mother of an alleged juvenile facing a charge of aggrevated robbery with two others ,gave conflicting statements on the age of the son,who she claimed was 15 years old.

The Judge doubted the authenticity of the Under- five card presented by the juvenile’s mother as it showed that all the information was written in the same hand writing.

When asked how old the son was, the juvenile’s mother gave two dates, which is January 5 and December 25 and that was born in Solwezi but could not state the year.

When asked to read out the information in the card, the woman said she was not able to read.

Judge Lombe-Phiri questioned how she could not know the date of birth of a child she birthed.

According to the information on the card, the accused person was born on February 6, 2007.

The Judge also ordered for medical examination to be conducted on the accused person to ascertain his age.

Meanwhile, all the six prison facilities in Lusaka Province are congested with a total of 3, 651 inmates against a holding capacity of 1,217 as at October 3,2022.

This is according to a state of reformatories report presented by Lusaka Central correctional facility officer-in-charge Teddy Silwamba, during the opening of October criminal session before Judge Lombe-Phiri.