The Senior Resident Magistrate court at Limbe in Blantyre has on Monday, December 13th sentenced two men, Jimmy James Magola Phiri 38, and Patrick Chiwanda, aged 44 to 21 years imprisonment for robbing, raping, and kidnapping a woman.

The court heard through the State Prosecutor Sub Inspector Steven Mpira that on March 15, 2020, the victim(name withheld) boarded a minibus from Limbe depot to Njamba Freedom Park for a political party rally but instead of going to the said place, the convicts diverted to Lambat forest in Machinjiri, where they raped and assaulted the woman before robbing her of a hustle bag, Samsung S8 cellphone, a belt, a hut, wrapper, 10 South African Rands and K24,000 cash.

In submission, Mpira pleaded with the court to hand them a stiff punishment, saying the offenses committed were serious in nature.

Giving his sentence, the presiding magistrate, Senior Resident Magistrate Byson Masonga sentenced the two to 21 years in prison for robbery, 21 years for rape, and 5 years for kidnapping in order to subject a person to ransom, but the sentences will run concurrently.

Jimmy James Magola Phiri, hails from Walala village in Traditional Authority Chitera, while Patrick Chiwanda comes from Munlo village in the area of Traditional Authority Ntchema, both from Chiradzulu district.