A male teacher who was arrested on his wedding day for sexually abusing a 10-year-old nephews has been found guilty of committing the unnatural offence.
The accused, a teacher at Nakonde Secondary School, has since been committed to the Lusaka High Court for sentencing where a judge will impose not less than 10 years jail term.
Lusaka Magistrate Crispin Hampungani found the named teacher guilty after finding that the prosecution proved the case against him beyond reasonable doubt.
“The evidence has left me with no doubt in my mind that there was commission of the offence and the offence was committed by the accused.
“I, therefore, find the accused person guilty as charged for the unnatural offences against the order of nature. I convict him accordingly,” magistrate Hampungani said.
Facts are that on the material day, the accused was having chilanga mulilo in readiness for his wedding which was scheduled for April 25, 2023.
The accused, who was also in the company of the victim’s father and another friend, drunk whiskey and other beverages before going to the victim’s father’s house where they continued to drink.
They later retired to bed but after midnight, the accused walked and paced about claiming that he was looking for a bag.
At some point, he entered the girl’s bedroom.
The following morning, the victim later informed his parents that the accused sexually abused him at night by touching and fingering him in the back and making him touch his penis.
The court heard that a medical report showed that the child had a 1centimentre and 2mm deep cut on his anus.
The child also explained to a counsellor that the accused penetrated him.
The accused was later arrested on his wedding day, some two days after the act, which he denied committing and that he never touched the victim but only hugged him on arrival at the house that day.
But in his judgement, the magistrate found the accused guilty after analysing the corroborative evidence in the case.
“The victim said the accused inserted fingers in his anus and something hard was felt and that the accused did bad manners to him.
“But when asked as to whether there was anal penetration, the victim answered in the negative,” magistrate Hampungani said.
“This could have been due to the naivety of being a child of feeling shy to say things as they are”.
He also found as a fact, that the accused told the victim to face the window as he was molesting him.
“The evidence of the victim was corroborative, he said that the accused inserted his fingers between his bums, he felt something hard enter his bums.
“The medical report shows a cut from his anus and he told the same story to the counsellor at the hospital and he also said the same in court,” magistrate Hampungani said.
Evidence shows that the child was sexually assaulted, violated, abused and carnally known against the order of nature.
The court dimissed the accused’s defence of not remembering anything owing to his drunken state.
“The accused claimed he never remembered what happened that night as he slept around 22:00 but he said he remembered waking up looking for his bag the same night,” magistrate Hampungani said.
The court ruled that it had been proved beyond reasonable doubt that it is the now accused who had carnal knowledge of victim against the order of nature.
(Mwebantu, Friday, 27th October, 2023)
