Man accuse of defilement gets acquittal

MULENGA MUSONDA writes@SunZambianA man in his 40s who was accused of brutally defiling a 10 years old girl and whilst in the act putting her underwear on her head walked to freedom after the Choma Magistrates Court cleared him of his charges.Moses Silema Luhana could not hold his tears after Livingstone Magistrate Mbololwa Mukela found […]

Man accuse of defilement gets acquittal
MULENGA MUSONDA writes@SunZambianA man in his 40s who was accused of brutally defiling a 10 years old girl and whilst in the act putting her underwear on her head walked to freedom after the Choma Magistrates Court cleared him of his charges.Moses Silema Luhana could not hold his tears after Livingstone Magistrate Mbololwa Mukela found him not guilty for the offence of Defilement of a Child he was charged with.Luhana who seemed to be in disbelief and confused state after his acquittal, knelt in the Dock and cried uncontrollably until Public Prosecutor Dexter Kwalela reminded him that there were other accused persons to be attended to by the Court.Particulars of the offence in this matter that began in 2015 are that on June 1 of the same year, Luhana unlawfully had carnal knowledge of a girl below the age of sixteen- a charge he constantly denied.According to the facts on record, the accused person lured the young girl into the Forest after he requested that she shows him directions to a certain place.There, he brutally defiled her, and whilst in the act he put her underwear to her head. The girl was later found by a Good Samaritan who took her to the Area Chairman and finally Choma Police Station where she spent a night without the knowledge of her family.When the matter came for judgment the Court established that the State relied upon the evidence of the identification parade forgetting that the victim had seen the suspect earlier during apprehension.The Court further stated that it was not comfortable convicting the accused person because another witness who was present when the accused person took the girl should have been called to testify in order to rule out false identity.Magistrate Mukela further said that there was dereliction of duty by the investigators and such there was insufficient corroboration regarding the identity of the offender.She thus acquitted Luhana and set him at liberty forthwith. The Sun