The Chief Resident Magistrate’s Court sitting in Lilongwe has sentenced a 40-year-old man, Lickson Chadza, to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour for sleeping with his biological daughter.

The court through state prosecutor Sub Inspector Thokozani Juziwell heard that Chadza was sleeping with his biological daughter to fulfill the instructions from the traditional doctor.

He further told the court that the accused was employed as a maize miller operator and he wanted to make his employer love him more than other workers.

He then visited an unknown traditional doctor who gave him instructions to sleep with his own biological daughter as part of the ritual.

It was also learnt in court that the traditional doctor advised him to sleep with his daughter for seven times, but he only managed to fulfill the ordeal five times before the victim reported the matter to her mother.

He was arrested and charged with the offence of incest and was tried and convicted by Dowa First Grade Magistrate Amran Phiri after he pleaded guilty to the incest charge.

When presenting sentence submissions, state prosecutor Sergeant Edwin Wala pleaded with the court to transfer the case to the Chief Resident Magistrate or to the High Court of Malawi for a stiffer and longer sentence.

The court in Dowa granted the permission and forwarded the file before the Chief Resident Magistrate’s Court for sentence.

On Friday, August 6 2021, the case was set for sentence before the Chief Resident Magistrate Patrick Chirwa, who proceeded to jail the convict to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour, saying the sentence will send as a deterrent to others with similar intentions.

Chadza comes from Siliya Village in the area of Traditional Authority Chiwere in Dowa District.