By Sopani Ng’ambi

The Mzimba First Grade Magistrate Court has convicted and sentenced two men, Joseph Banda, 21, and Emmanuel Theu, 26, to eight (8) years imprisonment for raping a 19 year old girl at Kathundu, Mzimba.

A circuit court sitting at Champhira heard through the state prosecutor, Nelson Mang’anda, that the victim lives with her uncle who has a bar at Kathundu trading centre but she sleeps in a separate apartment.

Mang’anda further told the court that on 9th June 2021 at around 20:00hrs, the victim left her uncle’s bar for home.

After sometime, she heard a knock and when she opened the door, the convicts forced themselves in and raped her in turns.

The incident was reported at Champhira Police Post and the victim was referred to Jenda Health Centre where it was confirmed that she was indeed raped.

Appearing in court,the convicts pleaded not guilty to the charge levelled against them,forcing the state to parade three witnesses who proved beyond reasonable doubts.

The convicts were found with a case to answer and convicted under section 132 of the penal code.

In mitigation, the convicts pleaded for mercy saying they are both young.

However the state prayed for deterrent sentence saying these cases are very common in the district and in this case, the offense was planned.

The First Grade magistrate, her worship Loveness Gumbo concurred with the state and slapped the convicts with eight (8) years imprisonment with hard labour.

Banda hails from Chadula Nhlane Village while Theu hails from Ganavula Village, both in the area of Traditional Authority (T/A) Mzikubola in Mzimba district.