THE Lusaka High Court has sentenced four Chirundu men to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour for unauthorised possession of defence force uniform.

Lusaka High Court Judge Wilfred Muma said the four men deserved to be punished in order to protect the community from deception.

He said the four men decided to wear the defence force uniforms when they were not legitimate officers thereby deceiving innocent people that they were soldiers.

In this matter, Barton Nkhoma, Tapiwa Kambole, Isaac Mutena and Misheck Muluwe aged between 22 and 27 were facing a charge of unauthorised possession of defence force uniform.

The four were alleged to have on April 7, 2019 in Chirundu, jointly and whilst acting together, had in their possession uniforms of the Zambia defence forces without lawful authority.

When the matter came up for sentencing before Judge Muma, the four said in mitigation through their lawyer that they were first offenders entitled to the leniency of the court.

They said they were remorseful and regretted their criminal actions.

The four convicts pleaded with the court to exercise maximum leniency when passing the sentence.

But passing sentence, judge Muma said the offence was a serious one and that the four deserved to be punished in order to protect the community from deception.

He said the four decided to wear the defence force uniforms when they were not legitimate officers thereby deceiving innocent people that they were soldiers.

Judge Muma said if the four wanted to be soldiers or police officers they would have applied to become one.

“If we encourage everyone wearing the army uniform on the streets, are we going to have order and peace in this country? You deserve to be punished so that we protect the community from deception. I therefore sentence you to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour with effect from the date of November 14, 2019,” said judge Muma.