The Nkhunga First Grade Magistrate’s Court in Nkhotakota on Friday sentenced two men to eight years in jail each for rape.
According to Nkhunga Police Station spokesperson Ignatius Esau Phiri, in the first incident, 66- year-old Dikilani Naferanji Mkongolo was on December 29, 2019 arrested for raping an eight year old girl.
In a related case, 24-year- old Shadreck Phiri raped and impregnated a 15-year-old girl, whom he claimed to have been his lover between June and December, 2019.
The two pleaded guilty to the charge of defilement that was leveled against them.
In mitigation, Mkongolo said he is HIV positive, aged and has no one to look after him.
Taking his turn, Phiri told the court that he is the breadwinner for his family and that his wife is pregnant.
The state through Mickeas Chatsila prayed for custodial sentence to both convicts, saying cases of such nature are rampant in the area.
Passing sentence, first grade magistrate Kingsley Buleya bemoaned Mkongolo’s behaviour who knew that HIV positive but defiled a minor thereby infecting her in the process.
Buleya also quashed Phiri’s mitigating factor that he is a bread winner for his family saying he could have considered his responsibility before committing the offence.
He then sentenced the two to 8 years imprisonment with hard labour each.
Dikilani Naferanji Mkongolo and Shadreck Phiri come from T/A Kanyenda and Kafuzila in Nkhotakota district.
