A 28-year-old man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison by the High Court for killing his 86-year-old father in an attack linked to accusations of witchcraft.
Justice Phildah Muzofa found Talent Chirongoma guilty of murder with constructive intent, ruling that although he may not have set out to kill, he must have foreseen that repeatedly assaulting an elderly man with wooden logs could result in death.
“The attack on the deceased was callous and incessant,” Justice Muzofa said, adding that the case was aggravated by the victim’s age. “It is highly aggravating that the accused killed his father, an octogenarian. Instead of protecting his aged father as is expected of children, he was the villain.”
The court heard that on September 10, 2025, Chirongoma returned home and found church members with his father. He accused the elderly man of witchcraft, calling him “the devil incarnate” and blaming him for misfortunes in the family.
Witnesses said the church members fled when Chirongoma became violent. He then armed himself with wooden logs and repeatedly assaulted his father. A man who tried to intervene was also attacked and knocked unconscious.
The father died from an epidural haemorrhage and haemorrhagic shock caused by multiple injuries to the head, torso and limbs, according to post-mortem results.
Chirongoma denied the charge and claimed he was at work at the time of the killing. Justice Muzofa rejected the alibi, describing it as “riddled with contradictions” and saying: “Lies have short legs.”
The court also admitted a warned and cautioned statement in which Chirongoma confessed, saying: “I admit to the charge levelled against me that I murdered my father by assaulting him with wooden logs.” The judge said the confession was consistent with medical and witness evidence.
Chirongoma’s mother, Makaita Chirongoma, told the court that her son believed his father was responsible for family misfortunes through witchcraft. She also said she believed her late husband had supernatural powers that affected the household.
Justice Muzofa said such beliefs could not justify violence. “Even if he was a witch, an eye for an eye approach is not justified at law; it will certainly make the whole world blind,” she said.
She added: “The right to life protected in our Constitution is not for the perfect human being, who does not exist anywhere. That right is for everyone by virtue of being a human being.”
The court said it had considered mitigation that the accused’s beliefs influenced his conduct but imposed the statutory minimum sentence of 20 years, noting that it would otherwise have imposed a harsher term closer to 25 years.
