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James Bwalya and Matthews Sikaonga, accused of abduction of 13 young women in Lusaka, have admitted to 54 counts including trafficking, rape, assult and aggravated robbery.
Lusaka High Court Judge, Charles Kafunda, ordered victims to be referred to by way of initials and not their real names during proceedings.
Bwalya, 23, was facing 54 charges while his co-accused, Sikaonga, 22, had 53 counts.
Read more: Alleged kidnapper, James Bwalya, fit to stand trial —Court
The two are jointly accused of abducting 13 women in 2022, and keeping them at a house in Chalala area.
Before the accused persons could take plea, senior state advocate, Bob Mwewa, made an application to amend the indictment by substituting the names of the victims with initials.
“Our application is supported by section 81 ,sub-section 5 and section 25 ,sub-section 3 of the Childrens Code Act no.12 of 2022, which prescribes that names of children should not be revealed in any report including a law report. It is our submission that even though the other victims are adults, their identifies being known would lead to the identification of the minor victims. For the protection of their private lives, we submit for their names to be submitted with initials,” Mwewa submitted.
He stated the accused persons would not be prejudiced as they would be provided with an adulterated copy bearing the real victims names.
Defence counsel, Osborne Ngoma, did not object to the application but said the the non-identification of the complainants should only be applied to children aged 18 and below.
The State was granted the application and the indictment amended for the protection of the victims private lives.
Meanwhile, Bwalya who suffers from a spinal injury and Sikaonga admitted to charges of abduction, aggravated robbery, assault occassioning actual bodily harm, aggravated robbery, trafficking of humans for purposing of sexual exploitation and rape.
During the course of the reading of the charges, Bwalya, showed signs of discomfort and asked for permission to sit, a request which was granted by the trial Judge.
Judge Kafunda adjourned the case to Thursday, June 8, 2023, for the reading of facts.
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