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The Lusaka High Court has overturned the conviction of a Ngombe compound maid who had been jailed for abortion, after finding that the subordinate court failed to properly take her plea, resulting in a miscarriage of justice.
In a judgment delivered by High Court Judge Sharon Newa, the seven-year sentence imposed on 26-year-old Violet Zulu was quashed after the court found that the plea recorded by the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court in January 2024 was equivocal and legally unsustainable.
Zulu, a mother of two, reportedly wept as the ruling was delivered.
Zulu had been serving the sentence under Section 151 of the Penal Code since December 2023. However, the High Court found that essential elements of the offence were neither explained to her nor admitted by her on record.
Judge Newa observed that although Zulu acknowledged taking herbs, the trial court failed to establish whether she did so with the intention of procuring an abortion—an essential ingredient required to sustain a conviction.
“The record does not show that the appellant admitted every ingredient of the offence,” the judge stated.
The High Court further pointed out contradictions that undermined the validity of the plea.
Zulu told the magistrate that she was five to six months pregnant, yet the statement of facts placed the pregnancy at eight months. There were also conflicting accounts regarding whether the foetus was expelled before or after the alleged father denied responsibility for the pregnancy.
Judge Newa held that these inconsistencies, combined with the trial court’s failure to clarify intention, rendered the plea unclear and invalid. The State conceded the error.
The court declined to order a retrial, noting that Zulu had already spent more than two years in custody as a result of procedural lapses not attributable to her.
The ruling effectively set her free, bringing her prolonged legal ordeal to an end.
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