A 30-year-old man in Lilongwe has been sentenced to life in prison for raping a 10-year-old girl and infecting her with HIV.
Kalulu’s case was initially heard in 2019 before a lower court, through the then Principal Resident Magistrate Chisomo Msokera who proposed 30 years in prison for Kalulu.
The case then went for a review at the High Court where Judge Ivy Kamanga has now handed Kalulu a life sentence.
The court heard that Kalulu raped the child and seriously injured her on her private parts.
After the rape, the child had difficulties in walking and was producing odour.
When her mother asked her, the girl claimed she was injured after falling from a fall. Later, she confessed to have been repeatedly raped by Kalulu.
In court, Kalulu was found guilty and the state asked for a stiff sentence saying the girl had been greatly traumatized following the sexual assault and injury to her private parts.
In mitigation, Kalulu, who was represented by a lawyer from the Legal Aid Bureau, pleaded for leniency saying he was a widower looking for his eight children.
In her determination, Judge Kamanga described Kalulu as a worst offender. She went on to sentence the convict to life imprisonment with hard labour.
Kamanga said Kalulu’s children should be looked after by the state through the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare.
Meanwhile, Kalulu has started serving his life sentence at Zomba Maximum Prison. He comes from Chinsapo in Traditional Authority Malili in Lilongwe.
