Three men in Lilongwe have been sentenced to 20 years each in prison for gang raping a 36-year-old woman and robbing her of K157,000 cash.

Principal Resident Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday found Yona Maulidi, 39, Owen Legani, 19, and William Phillipo, 39, guilty of rape and robbery.

During the trial, State Prosecutor Sub Inspector Bauleni Namasani explained that the victim was heading back home from her boyfriend’s house before the attack at Kaondo location in Area 36 at about 11: 00 p.m. on February 18, 2022.

The six-man gang, armed with panga knives and crowbars, first robbed her of K157,000 cash before raping her in turns from 11:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m.

Prosecutor Namasani urged the court to impose a 21 year jail term on the trio, arguing their conduct was shockingly inhumane and degrading.

He also noted that the trauma that the victim had suffered for four hours was just too much; hence lengthy custodial sentences for her perpetrators.

In his determination, Principal Resident Magistrate Rodrick Michongwe described the three as callous, saying they went on raping their victim after robbing her of her hard-earned money.

Michongwe went on to convict and sentence the three to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour for the first count of rape and nine years for robbery; the sentences will run concurrently.

Maulidi comes from Kachule Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Kachere in Dedza, Legani comes from Mawera, T/A Njolomole in Ntcheu and Phillipo is from Tumbwe Village T/A Tsabango in Lilongwe District.

Source: MIJ