Two men, who are friends from Mtandire Township in Lilongwe, are in custody at Lingadzi Police Station for allegedly defiling a 14-year-old mentally challenged girl.

The suspects are Charles Ngalawesa, from Makola village, Traditional Authority Chigalu in Blantyre district and Yamikani Samuel, who hails from Mbonekela village, in the area of Traditional Authority Msakambewa in Dowa district.

It is alleged that, in the morning of 17 March 2024, the first suspect, Ngalawesa, took advantage of the girl’s condition by taking her away from her home on the pretext of marrying her and later defiled her.

Around 4 pm, the suspect took the victim back to her house and met his friend Samuel along the way.

After Ngalawesa had left, Samuel also went to the victims house and took her away.

When the girl’s mother, who works as a maid, returned, she did not find her daughter at home, and this made her do some follow-up.

Her neighbors, who were watching what was happening, told her that the girl was taken by Ngalawesa, and this made her lodge a complaint at BNS Police Unit, which later arrested both suspects.