Police hail stiffer court sentences on defilement

Police say stiffer punishments given to defilement culprits by courts and sensitisation campaigns have led to reduction of defilement cases in Mzuzu City and other parts of Mzimba that are under Mzuzu Police Station.

Police data show a 29 percent reduction in defilement cases in Mzuzu.

The police recorded 40 cases of defilement in 2014 compared to 53 cases in 2013. The city also recorded five rape cases in 2014 against seven in 2013.

Mzuzu Police spokesperson Martin Bwanali yesterday attributed the decrease to stiffer punishments given by the courts to offenders. He said the punishments have helped in deterring people from committing the crime.

Interface meetings between police and the community on evils of gender-based violence are also said to have helped people to understand the need to end the malpractice.

However, Bwanali said most of the cases recorded involved direct relations of the children defiled and other people close to the children

“Most of the perpetrators of these offenses were males and next of kin to the victims. These included grandfathers, stepfathers and uncles,” said Bwanali.

Meanwhile, the Mzuzu First Grade Magistrate’s Court has sentenced a 25-year-old man to 14 years imprisonment with hard labour for defiling a five-year-old girl at Lupaso in the city.

The man, Kenani Kaunda of Mafita Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Mtwalo in Mzimba, pleaded guilty to a defilement charge before magistrate Anthony Banda and asked for the court’s mercy, saying he was an orphan.