Defiler committed to High Court

THE Lusaka Magistrate Court has committed a 28-year-old bus conductor of Lusaka to the High Court for sentencing in a matter he was found guilty of defiling a person with an intellectual disability under the age of 16years.

Appearing before magistrate Mutinta Mwenya was Mofya Chibesa accused of defilement contrary to Section 139 of the Penal Code Chapter 87 of the laws of Zambia.

Chibesa denied the allegations stating that the victim followed him to his house as he was coming from church.

And the victim’s mother narrated to the court how she found her daughter missing when she had left her in the house.

She told court that on a material day around 17:00hours, she left the child washing plates as she had gone to the market, and when she returned she found the victim missing.

“I asked the boys who were playing outside the yard and they told me that they had seen her at the neighbor’s house,’’ she said.

She said she went to the house in question and called out her granddaughter’s name at the house where one of the doors seemed locked and the child responded.

“The child later answered and i peeped through the door and saw the victim with a man, i broke the door and entered the house, the man said sorry then later ran away. The matter was later reported to the police and victim taken to the hospital, given medication and later confirmed that she had been defiled.’’

In his defence, the accused said the victim followed him behind as he was coming from church

But when delivering judgement, the magistrate in her findings questioned why the accused could allow the victim to follow him up to his house, allowed her to enter and then locked the door and denied defiling her.

The court found him guilty and committed him to the High Court for a higher sentence because the subordinate court has no jurisdiction to pass a higher sentence.