Shocker! Man who raped 10 year old boy gets a 1 year-and-6-month jail sentence

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Machinga

…Magistrate calls the sentence a stiff punishment

Rodney Kamanga, the disgraceful man who brutally raped a 10 year old child is one happiest Malawi man while his innocent victim suffers from the abhorrent memories of the abuse as the offender has only been handed an 18 month sentence.

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Shocking! 18 month for raping a child

Instead of rape or child sexual abuse, the pedophile was charged with sodomy in accordance with Section 153 of the Penal Code. Yet, the Section is understood to be used when two adults of the same sex have consensual sex rather than when a child is sexually abused or raped as documented in the 2010 Child Care, Protection and Justice Act. In this act, any sexual encounter between an adult and a child is considered a sexual abuse.

According to a statement by the Malawi Police, the pedophile man has just been handed an 18 month jail sentence and is likely to come out earlier, living the lives of many innocent children in grave danger.

After raping the young boy in January, Kamanga who hails from Mtambo Village in Mchinji district is said to have attempted to silence the innocent victim by giving him boiled Irish potatoes and K100. After informing the parents of his abuse, the matter was reported to Dowa Police Station who apprehended the offender.

According to the statement, Dowa First Grade Magistrate, His Worship Imulani Phiri described the sentence the 18 month jail term as “a stiff sentence” because Kamanga’s behaviour was “not only morally rotten but also it had set a bad precedent to the community”.

Ironically, Section 153 describes unnatural offense as involving adults of the same sex who have given consent to the act of sex. Used to criminalise homosexuality, the section sets fourteen years as the punishment for such offenders.

While Section 155 of the Penal Code which could have directly applied in the Kamanga case but was not used sets 7 years as a possible jail sentence for those who sexually abuse boys.

“Any person who unlawfully and indecently assaults a boy under the age of fourteen years shall be guilty of a felony and shall be liable to imprisonment for seven years, with or without corporal punishment” reads Section 155.

Sections 133 and 134 which could also have applied in this case describes rape,  punishable by a death penalty, as sex only with a girl or woman but without her consent as Malawi is a signatory to the Convention of the Rights of the Child which demands that all children are protected by handing stiffer punishment to sexual predators such as Kamanga.

Malawi24 is yet to establish whether human rights activists will appeal the case to plead for a longer jail sentence taking the gravity of the offence that Kamanga committed by shattering the future, memories and childhood of the young innocent boy.