This man was jailed for eating python meat

A man has been jailed for nine years in Mutare, Zimbabwe, after he was found in possession of python meat, Newsday reported on Friday.

Archwell Maramba, 58, said he wanted to eat the meat "to cure my spine".

Pythons are protected reptiles in Zimbabwe. Killing or hunting them is a criminal offence.

His arrest, conviction and sentencing took six days.

"Since I ate my first python I have seen remarkable improvements [in my back problems]," he argued.

Maramba said he only ate pythons, and was introduced to them by artisanal diamond miners in Chiadzwa a few years back, Newsday quoted Maramba as saying.

He was arrested last Friday in Zimunya, south of Mutare on the road leading to the Chiadzwa diamond fields.

It was not immediately clear if Maramba's arrest was linked to the discovery of a python in Zimunya earlier this month.

Local press reported last week that the 3.4m-long reptile was killed by youths in Zimunya and its carcass burnt.

Maramba told a court in Mutare this week that some friends had brought the dead python to him.

In 2012, four villagers from the Mhondoro district were each given only a 30-day jail sentence, with the option of a fine, for killing and eating a python.

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