A 24-year-old woman of Lusaka’s Emmasadale area has been sentenced to four years simple imprisonment for stabbing her boyfriend to death.

High court judge Mwape Bowa convicted Wendy Kapembwa for manslaughter on Friday.

Kapembwa stabbed her boyfriend Kativia Mwanza with a knife during an argument in Lusaka’s Emmasadale area on July 30, 2016.

Mwanza sustained a deep wound on his lower left side of the chest and died the following day at the University Teaching Hospital where he was rushed to.

In sentencing the convict judge Bowa said she had exercised leniency because Kapembwa did not waste the courts time by readily admitting to the charge.

However the judge Bowa sentenced Kapembwa to four years simple imprisonment saying the court had a duty to step in and send a loud message against the increasing cases of gender based violence.

“The courts have a duty to step in and send a message loud and clear so that the crime can end,” judge Bowa said.

The court observed that there were better ways to resolve conflict than resorting to violence.

“This man was not only personally known to you but he was the father of your child. There are better ways to resolve conflict through communication or better still, people can walk away from potential violence,” judge Bowa said.

“The offence for which you have been convicted carries a possible life sentence of imprisonment. I send you to four years simple imprisonment with effect from July 31, 2016 being your date of arrest.”

Kapembwa was initially charged with murder but the charge was reduced to manslaughter.