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James Bwalya and Mathews Sikaonga, who abducted and repeatedly sexually exploited 13 women for months have been sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour by High court Judge, Charles Kafunda.
Justice Kafunda in delivering the sentence, on Thursday, said the convicts were not deserving of lienency as the autorious attacks inflicted on the 13 victims left undescribable physical and mental pain, such that one would question why a human being could inflict such brutal torture on another person.
Read more: Convicted abductors of 13 women seek forgiveness from victims, judge to pronounce sentence June, 29
The convicts pleaded guilty to 54 counts of attempted abduction, abduction of a child, rape, aggravated assault with intent to steal and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Bwalya and Sikaonga lured their victims who included former school classmates and held them in confinement at a house in Chalala, Lusaka, between March and October, 2022.
The women were denied access to ablutions, given poor nutrition, forced alcohol abuse and subjected to unconsented injection of family planning pills.
They used kicks, fists and iron bars to physically assault the victims, among them a pregnant woman.
Fifty years for each of the 11 counts of rape was pronounced, 15 years for each charge of aggravated assault, five years for each count of abduction and three years for assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The said sentences would run concurrently.
Justice Kafunda pronounced life sentences with hard labour in the other rape charges committed against two other victims.
He said the victims referred to by initials FM who was pregnant and RMC were singled out from the group and suffered the worst brutal torture.
Justice Kafunda said FM was the first victim who was kidnapped together with her 3 year old daughter and was two months pregnant at the time.
He said after the abduction, she was beaten until she became unresponsive and then the convicts later took turns to rape her in the presence of her daughter.
The convicts then decided to dump the child at the near by police station after some weeks. They, however, continued to violently have sexual intercourse with FM even in her advanced stages of pregnancy.
“FM was subjected to harsh living conditions, thereby putting her life and that of the unborn child. At the time she was rescued, she would not walk unaided as her legs had swelled to double their size. She was literally at a point of death and yet the convicts continued to rape her,” he said.
Justice Kafunda said in the case of RMC, the convicts launched a vicious attack on her because she resisted to be sexually assaulted, instead they beat her with an iron bar to the extent of breaking her leg.
He said even after the victim suffered from excruciating pain, the duo would repeatedly rape her and just disliked her because she came from a well to do family.
“The aforementioned is illustrative of the high levels of cruelty exhibited by the convicts toward FM and RMC .
“The convicts showed no empathy whatsoever for the suffering they inflicted on FM and RMC. That the convicts autrious attacks on FM and RMC exacerbated the seriousness and aggravating circumstances of the offences herein and hence justify the imposition of the maximum possible sentences in relation to the offences involving violent and sexual assault,” he said.
Justice Kafunda said stiff punishment was meant to protect the public from offenders and send a strong warning to those intending to do the same.
He slammed the convicts with 20 years each for aggravated assault with intent to steal, committed on FM and RMC.
He said when Bwalya and Sikaonga asked for forgiveness from the victims and their families, both through their lawyer, Osborne Ngoma, informed the court that they committed the said offences because they thought it was just a game, termed as ‘Ukwangala’ in Bemba local language, without realising that they were committing serious offences.
“In the case of the convicts before court, all they are saying is that they regret what they did, that the motivation to commit the offences was driven by what they termed as ‘Ukwangala’, playing in English language. There was no effort on the part of the convicts to convey to the court and appreciate responsibility of the consequences of their actions on the lives of their victims despite the evidence of the impact having been in court.
“The attribution of committing the offences to ukwangala or playing by the convicts shows the lack of empathy by the convicts towards the plight of those offended. It reveals a canivellier attitude towards very serious offences,” he said.
The trial Judge dismissed the plea of youthfulness for mercy and said youthfulness by itself did not justify a lesser sentence.
He said the offences committed did not bear characteristics of the impulsiveness associated with youth behavior but were rather crimes that were well calculated and executed.
Justice Kafunda agreed with defence lawyer that cases of abduction were not prevalent in Zambia but disagreed that it was not enough to demand for a lesser punishment.
“The abduction was not committed as a single or isolated act but was rather part of the series of offences, whose purpose was to achieve the violent exploitation of the victims by way of raping them,” Justice Kafunda said.
He said the offences committed fell in the realm of Gender Based Violence, which was prevelent in Zambia.
Justice Kafunda brought the courtroom to the realization that women were put at potential risk of being infected with Sexually Transmitted Diseases and HIV /AIDS.
The convicts intend to appeal against the life imprisonment sentences.
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