High Court of Zambia - 1968 July

4 judgments
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Results. 4 judgments found.

4 judgments
July 1968
A trial court may not question the accused; reliance on such answers vitiates conviction and sentence.
  • Criminal procedure — Impropriety of questioning the accused by the trial court — Findings must be based on evidence, not admissions improperly elicited — Conviction quashed.
29 July 1968
The applicant's conviction was quashed due to a defective housebreaking charge and misdirection on burden regarding possession of stolen goods.
  • Criminal law — Housebreaking — Entry an essential ingredient; defective particulars
  • Evidence — Theft — Possession of recently stolen property does not shift burden of proof; permissible, not mandatory, inference
  • Misdirection — Shifting onus to accused invalidates conviction
17 July 1968
Contractual pension rules govern beneficiaries; customary inheritance does not confer rights and a divorce after death is void.
  • Pension fund — Beneficiaries defined by contract — Rule 6 limits beneficiaries to wife/widow and children; customary inheritance law inapplicable to contractual pension benefits; Local court lacks jurisdiction to grant divorce where one spouse is deceased; Distribution of pension monies to widow and child with investment held for child until majority.
15 July 1968
An appellate court can replace imprisonment with a fine for the applicant's drunken driving where the original sentence was manifestly wrong.
  • Criminal procedure — Sentencing discretion and appellate interference; Drunken driving — factors in sentencing (degree of intoxication, manner of driving, prior record, medical history); Substitution of imprisonment with fine; Fines must be within means; Mandatory licence suspension confirmed.
13 July 1968