Police are warning parents to critically vet the character of house maids and houseboys to avoid engaging criminals who might eventually harm their children or steal property.

The warning comes after a tailor employed by a family in Chiwembe Township, Blantyre, defiled and infected with Gonorrhoea his employer’s six year old child when the parents were out.

Police have identified the 21-year old tailor as Jafali Chideya who has since been slapped with an eight year imprisonment sentence after the Midima Magistrate Court found him guilty of the crime.

Limbe Police Deputy Spokesperson Pedzesai Zembeneko said prosecutor Beatrice Chakaka Munthali told Midima Magistrate’s Court that in August this year Chideya called the victim while she was on her way out to play and dragged her into the house where he defiled her.

“Chideya was employed as a tailor by the victim’s parents and was working right on the veranda of the family’s house. On this day, he took advantage of his bosses’ absence to drag their little girl to her bedroom and defiled her,” said Munthali.

The prosecutor said medical examination on the victim revealed that she was bruised in the private parts before being infected with an STI, gonorrhoea.

Senior Magistrate Mangawa Makhalira said Chideya deserved a heavy sentence since had committed a serious offence which caused great damage to the innocent minor.

In mitigation the suspect pleaded with the court that he was supporting a wife and a child.