53-year-old man faces court sentence for sexually abusing grand-daughter, aged 5

A 53-year-old farmer has been convicted and committed to the Lusaka High Court for sentencing for sexually abusing his granddaughter in November, 2021.

John Lubinda Kakwisa, of Nampundwe in Lusaka, was charged with one count of incest contrary to section 159(1) of the Penal Code Chapter 87 of the laws of Zambia as amended by act no.15 of 2005. He pleaded not guilty to the offence.

Lusaka Magistrate, Chrispin Hampungani, found Kakwisa guilty of having unlawful carnal knowledge of his granddaughter who was then aged five.

According to the victim’s mother testimony, she was married to the accused’s first-born son and had two children with him.

She told the Court that they stayed in the same yard with the now convict but occupied different houses.

She stated that on the material day of November 10, 2021, she took the victim’s young sister to the hospital.

She told the Court that when she returned home around 17;00 hours, she went to the accused’s house to look for her mother-in-law, unfortunately was informed by Kakwisa that she was not around.

At around 21:00 hours, the girl wanted to urinate and she told her to go and sit on the chamber, but failed to urinate saying the wound was painful.

The girl, however, refused to be checked for fear she would get a good beating from the mother.

She persuaded the daughter and assured her that she was not going to beat her, but just wanted to see what was hurting her.

The mother said she was shocked to find her daughter’s vagina had widened and had some watery stuff coming out.

When asked who caused her the pain, the victim replied that it was her grandfather.

She told the mother that after closing from school, the grandfather took her to his house and had carnal knowledge of her.

She informed the husband about the unfortunate incident, who instructed that the girl be taken to Kanyama Level One hospital.

Days later, there was a request by the defence to again cross examine the victim’s mother, and the request was granted in the interest of justice.

During cross examination, the mother told the court that the girl was again defiled by her husband (victim’s father) on April 18 ,2022, while the accused (grandfather) was still in custody.

She stated that it was the reason why she left home and was staying at Mother Theresa’s shelter with the children.

She said that her husband was also arrested but was not sure at what stage the matter was as she had been at a shelter since then.

According to the medical report presented in court, the girl suffered some bruises on her labia majora, and was inflamed, was painful and consistent with the allegation of defilement.

Kakwisa in his defence, said on the alleged date, he was digging a toilet with three other people when he saw the girl return home crying that she had been beaten by friends.

He said he was shocked when his daughter-in-law alleged he had defiled the girl.

Magistrate Hampungani in delivering judgement ruled out an element of false implication.

He said the identity of the accused as the one who did the offence was not in dispute as no evidence was adduced to rebut it.

“Having established that there was carnal knowledge of the prosecutrix, having established that the accused was her biological grandfather and having established that it was the accused who had carnal knowledge of the prosecutrix and actually left the whitish watery stuff (sperm) on the little girl herein, it can safely be said that the Prosecution has proved the offence of incest contrary to Section 159(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code Cap 87 of the laws of Zambia beyond reasonable doubt. I therefore find the accused guilty of the offence and accordingly convict him,” he adjudicated.

He committed Kakwisa to the High Court for sentencing.

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