Chikwawa Magistrate Court has sentenced 20-year-old Osman Butao to 30 months imprisonment for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
According to Chikwawa police spokesperson Foster Benjamin, Butao was found guilty on 11 January by the district’s second grade magistrate court.
Foster said the offence is contrary to Section 137 sub Section 1 of the Penal code.
He explained that the court, through Police Prosecutor Danford Otala, heard that Butao committed the offence on the night of 30 September 2017 at Kabisala Village in the area of Traditional Authority N’gabu in the district.
“The victim, who is in Standard 5 at one of the primary schools in the area, was in the company of two other friends and the three were on their way home from a chieftaincy installation ceremony.
“Whilst on their way, at around 8 PM, the three met the convict who immediately held them hostage,” explained Foster.
Butao grabbed one girl and started fondling her private parts.
The ordeal lasted for some hours before the girls were released and later they narrated everything to their respective parents.
Butao was then apprehended by community policing members before being handed over to N’gabu Police Post.
During trial, he denied the charge of indecent assault, forcing the State to parade six witnesses.
He was later found guilty of the offence and in his mitigation asked for non custodial sentence, arguing he has a wife and a child to look after.
In his sentence, second grade magistrate Joram Zebron stated that the girl was seriously traumatized.
Zebron then sentenced the convict to 30 months in prison saying the determination was arrived at as a measure to deter other would-be offenders.
Osman Butao hails from Kabisala Village in the area of T/A N’gabu in Chikwawa district.
