Chikwawa man get 12 years jail term for sexually assaulting step-daughter
A 27-year-old man in the Southern Region district Chikwawa has been handed a 12-year-jail term for defiling his 2-year-old step-daughter.
Eliya Shadreck was on Wednesday found guilty of defilement before the district’s first grade magistrate’s court.
State Prosecutor Levison Musote told the court that the convict, on 20 January at Osman Village in Traditional Authority Maseya’s area defiled the child in the absence of his wife.
“He (Shadreck) had just returned from Bereu Trading Centre and found his 2-year-old step-daughter playing with her elder brother.
“The father sent the step-son on an errand before dragging the victim into the bedroom and defiled her,” Musote explained.
During trial, the accused admitted the charge and begged for leniency.
The state Prosecutor however, told the court to impose a harsh sentence on the accused, arguing that the child had been terribly traumatized.
In his ruling, First Grade Magistrate Gladstone Chilundu said the convict needed a stiffer penalty as deterrent since defilement cases in the district are on the rise.
He went on slapping the convict with a 12-year-prison sentence as a measure to deter others from committing similar offences.
Shadreck hails from Chazuka Village in the area of T/A Chimombo in Nsanje District.
