Lilongwe Police Prosecutor Sub Inspector Vincent Ntalawe told the court that the convict committed the offence between the month of February and June this year.

Ntalawe said Kapa hooked the girl in February from Mchinji where she was doing her secondary education on self-boarding and convinced her to elope with him to Chinsapo in Lilongwe where they started staying together as a couple.

After noticing that the girl was missing from school, the head teacher contacted the girl's parents to find out if she was home only to find out that she wasn’t.

Then the parents find out that their teenaged child had left school and was at Chinsapo staying with a man and alerted Lilongwe Police Station who raided their hiding place and rescued the girl.

It was also discovered that the girl had fallen pregnant and suffered miscarriage while staying with Kapa.

The police charged Kapa with an offence of having sexual Intercourse with a child to which he pleaded not guilty, however, the State paraded four witnesses to secure conviction.

In mitigation, the convict prayed for leniency saying that he is a family man.

But the State through Prosecutor Sub Inspector Ntalawe submitted to the court that apart from ruining the girl's future by denying her the right to education, the convict also subjected the girl to both physical and emotional trauma citing the pregnancy and the miscarriage she suffered.

Passing his sentence, Principle Resident Magistrate Rodrick Michongwe concurred with the State and went on to slap Kapa with a 15-year jail term.

The convict hails from Namadidi Village, Traditional Authority Mulumbe in Zomba District.

*Inspector Hastings Chigalu*

*Lilongwe Police PRO*

*Cell: 0888359882/ 0999075827*

*Email: hastings.chigalu@police.gov.mw*