The Zomba Senior Resident Magistrate’s Court has sentenced 18-year-old Biziwick Namalindi to nine years imprisonment with hard labour for marrying and sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl.
The biological father of the 15-year-old girl has also been arrested for raping her on several occasions in 2017.
Zomba Police Deputy Spokesperson Sergeant Patrick Maseko has confirmed.
According to Maseko, the court heard from state prosecutor Sub Inspector Chimpazi Katukwana that Biziwick had been defiling the girl since he illegally married her in 2020.
He said the two were living as a family at 3 Miles Township in Zomba City and some people reported them to Youth Net and Counseling (YONECO) after seeing that the girl was too young to be in marriage.
Katukwana said the matter was reported to Police by YONECO and upon investigations, Police arrested the man for marrying under aged girl and charged him with the offence of defilement which is contrary to Section 138 of the Penal Code.
Appearing before court, Biziwick pleaded not guilty, but the court found him guilty after the state paraded three witnesses.
In his submission, Katukwana asked the court to impose a stiffer sentence despite Biziwick being a first offender so that it should be a lesson to would be offenders as these cases are rampant in the district.
When passing sentence, Senior Resident Magistrate Christopher Makumba concurred with the state and sentenced Biziwick to nine years imprisonment with hard labour.
Biziwick hails from Tawakali Village, Traditional Authority Chikowi in Zomba district.
In a related development, the biological father of the 15-year-old has been arrested for sexually abusing her since 2017 before she got married to the convict.
The father at the time threatened her not to reveal the sexual abuse to anyone. The father is answering incest charges.
