The Senior Resident Magistrate court in Limbe has sentenced a 26-year-old man, Timothy Chinthenga, to 21 years imprisonment with hard labour for defiling a 10 year old girl.

The court through Jacqueline Kakhiwa heard that the convict had on September, 20, 2020 defiled the girl in a bush near Bangwe tavern.
Kakhiwa said the victim(name withheld) was going home together with her brother.

“They met the convict at Bangwe Inn who gave her K2, 000 and a wrist watch to her brother before telling the unsuspecting children to follow him,” she explained.

Upon arrival at a place near Bangwe tarven, he dragged both of them to a nearby bush where he defiled the innocent girl in full view of her young brother.

After committing the offence, he escaped but well wishers managed to apprehend him and brought him to Bangwe police where he was put in custody and charged with defilement an offence that contravenes Section 138(1) of the Penal code.

When he appeared before court, he denied the charge levelled against him. This made the state prosecutor to parade five witnesses who testified against him, proving him guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

In mitigation, the convict asked the court to be lenient when passing sentence, saying he is a breadwinner.

In submission, Sub Inspector Kakhiwa asked the court to mete out a stiffer punishment. She said despite being the first offender, he deserved a deterrent sentence because the offence committed is serious in nature and attracts a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

She further told the court that the girl is heavily traumatised and that this will have a negative effect in her life.

Passing judgement, Senior Resident Magistrate Lawrence Mchilima, while concurring with the state prosecutor, quashed the convict’s migation factors and sentenced Timothy to 21 years imprisonment with hard labour to deter would-be-offenders.

Timothy Chinthenga comes from Wisiki village in the area of Traditional Authority Machinjiri in Blantyre.