The Dowa First Grade Magistrate’s Court on Thursday sentenced a 38-year-old man to 14 years imprisonment with hard labour for raping a 12-year-old child.
The court through state prosecutor Sergeant Regina Namakhwa heard that the convict, Harrison Rison committed the offence during the month of January this year at Mtsikiti Village in Dowa District.
The court further learnt that Rison rented a house close to the victim’s house and he used to entice child to go to his house to teach her Mathematics though he is not a teacher by profession.
Whenever the victim went there, Rison would send his wife to draw water at a borehole or alternatively, send her somewhere far from the house. The man would then take advantage of this and defile the girl before later releasing her. This happened for three times.
Sergeant Namakhwa explained in court that the issue came to light when the victim started complaining about pain in her private part.
Upon being questioned, she revealed to have been sexually abused by Rison.
The matter was then reported to police who in turn issued a medical form for examination and treatment at Mvera Mission Hospital whose results revealed that the child was indeed defiled as indicated by penetration. This led to the arrest of Rison.
Appearing before court, the man pleaded not guilty to a charge of defilement contrary to Section 138 of the Penal Code. This prompted the state to parade three witnesses who testified against him.
In her submission, prosecutor Namakhwa pleaded with the court to mete out a stiff punishment to the offender, arguing that the convict planned the sexual abuse.
Passing the sentence, Magistrate Robert Botha quashed the mitigation factor of the convict for a lenient sentence hence sentenced him to 14 years imprisonment with hard labour as a warning to other would-be offenders.
Rison comes from Mlolo Village in Traditional Authority Mazengera in Lilongwe District.
