THE Kabwe High Court has sentenced a 49-year-old man of Kapiri Mposhi to eight years in prison with hard labour for killing his friend during a drinking spree.

Justice Elita Mwikisa found George Ntalasha Bwalya guilty after he pleaded guilty to the charge of murder which was later reduced to manslaughter.

Bwalya beat to death Richard Soko on April 2, this year during a fight after drinking illicit beer locally known as kachasu.

The two were on the material day drinking the local brew after which a fight erupted.

In the process, Mr Soko lost two of his front teeth.

The two were separated by a Mr Humphrey Kabumbala, but Mr Soko was discovered dead the following morning.

A postmortem conducted showed that the cause of death was head and body injuries.

Bwalya was arrested and charged with murder but the charge was reduced to manslaughter.

In her ruling, Ms Justice Mwikisa said beer drinking should not lead to crimes and urged the public to take alcohol responsibility.

She said she was sending Bwalya to prison to allow him reflect on his action so that he could reform and become a responsible citizen.

In mitigation, Bwalya asked for forgiveness, saying he had a wife and children and that if sent to jail his family would suffer.

But Ms Justice Mwikisa said she was sentencing him to eight years imprisonment with hard labour and hoped that at the time he would finish serving his jail term, he would be a better person.