Court jails village head 7 years for defilement

Dowa Magistrate’s Court yesterday sentenced a village head from Traditional Authority Nthondo in Ntchisi to seven years imprisonment for defiling an imbecile.

The court sitting at Nthondo headquarters learned that the village head enticed the 25-year-old victim (name withheld) to sleep with him in exchange for medicine to cure her epilepsy.

In her ruling, first grade magistrate Dorothy Kalua described the offence as a serious one with a maximum sentence of 14 years imprisonment.

“As a traditional leader, you are supposed to protect sons and daughters and all people in your village, but you decided to take advantage of her condition to defile and traumatise her,” she said.

In mitigation, the village head pleaded for leniency, saying he is a breadwinner.

Ntchisi Police Station Victim Support Unit coordinator Lloyd Maida said the village head’s actions were regrettable.

He said: “As police we are satisfied with the sentence imposed on the chief.

“Leaders are supposed to be exemplary and our office will embark on a sensitisation campaign for local leaders and strengthen our community policing structures in the district.”

The Spotlight Initiative, a Malawi Government programme funded by the European Union and the United Nations to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, provided resources for the case’s judgement to be heard at Nthondo headquarters.