Court in Nkhatabay has sentenced a 21year old man Gift Lungu to five years imprisonment with hard labour after he was found guilty for abducting a 16year old girl at Likoma district.

According to Nkhata-Bay police spokesperson Ignatius Esau , Gift Lungu, who was working as a Social welfare officer at Likoma district was having an affair with a 16 year old girl and on the night of 26-27 May 2017, he took the girl to his house where together they spent a night.

The girl’s parents lodged a complaint at Likoma police and later the girl was found at Lungu’s house and immediately Lungu was arrested and was charged with the offence of abduction contrary to section 78 of Child Care Protection and Justice Act.

During his first court appearance, Lungu denied the charge and the state paraded three witnesses and on June 13 2017, Lungu was convicted.

In mitigation, besides telling the court that he is an orphan, the convict also said he takes care of his grandmother.

When passing sentence, FGM Anthony Banda noted with concern that being a social welfare officer, the convict would have been one of the people championing the protection of children’s rights but instead he has turned out to be a threat to them and as such, he concurred with the state through Sgt. Keston Chiona that the convict deserved a stiffer punishment.

Gift Lungu who comes from Katumbi vge in the area of Traditional Authority ( TA ) Katumbi in Rumphi district was later slapped with a five year jail sentence.