THE Supreme Court sitting in Kabwe has upheld the death sentence slapped on two men of Choma District in Southern Province who killed a man after hitting him with a machete on the head.

Sunday Siamalambe, 48, and his son Heridah, 25, were sentenced to death on August 19, 2007 after being found guilty of murder.

The court in its ruling said the two had no right to attack the man as a means of seeking revenge despite their claim that the deceased and his son had attacked them.

Particulars of the offence are that the accused, in August 2006, attacked Japhet Sianoole who ended up being admitted to hospital.

Mr Sianoole died on September 11, 2006 due to head injuries inflicted on his head using a machete.

He was attacked during a Tonga traditional ceremony in Choma.

After the attack, the accused ran away but were later apprehended.

Siamalambe and Heridah had appealed to the Supreme Court against their conviction but Mr Justice Muyinda Wanki upheld the death sentence.

Meanwhile, Mr Justice Wanki upheld a 30-year jail term given to a Lusaka man who defiled an eight-year-old girl.

Philip Mwanza, 32, had appealed against his sentence handed down by the Lusaka High Court.

Mwanza, on July 31, 2006, defiled a girl who was sent by her sick father to prepare a bed for him.

Mwanza appealed against the sentence and urged the court to reduce the sentence to five years considering that he had admitted the charge and did not waste the court's time.