A 20 year-old student who celebrated the New Year festival with his 15 year old girlfriend is facing charges of defilement under the First Grade Magistrate court in Mulanje.

This follows suspicions that he had sex with the girl.

The Form 3 student at Vonkeni Community Day Secondary School in Mulanje identified as Idi Haloni of Robeni Village T/A Chikumbu in the district is alleged to have gone missing with the girl on the eve of New Year, and reappeared in the evening of 1 January.

According to police publicist in Mulanje Greciam Ngwira, the girls’ parents reported to their office about the missing child during the night of December 31 and the girl arrived home the next day and she revealed her escapade of the past night.

Medical examinations conducted at Mulanje District Hospital revealed that the girl had had sex with the boy and the police arrested Haloni for allegedly defiling the 15 year old girl.

According to a Police interrogation statement the boy admitted having carnal knowledge of the girl, but expressed ignorance of the age of the girl.

The offence goes against Malawi Penal Code section 138 (1) clearly states that; “any person who unlawfully and carnally knows any girl under the age of thirteen years shall be guilty of a felony and shall be liable to imprisonment for life, with or without corporal punishment.”