Malawi Police in central region tobacco growing district of Kasungu are keeping in custody a 23-year-old Zambian national suspected to have sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl at Matawale Village in Senior Chief Chulu’s area in the district, Kasungu Police Public Relations Officer Sub Inspector Edwin Kaunda has said.
Kaunda identified the suspect as Daniel Mvula of Lundazi in Zambia.
According to Police, the Zambian national committed the alleged offense on November 15. He said the girl (name shielded) was seated outside her aunt’s house when the suspect found her.
“It was at around 7 p.m. on the said date that the suspect was passing in the village and saw the girl at her aunt’s house. He went closer and abducted her into a kitchen where he started defiling her,” he explained.
According to Kaunda the victim was only rescued by a passerby who on hearing screams coming from the direction of the kitchen decided to stop, to see what was happening.
“A passerby caught the suspect red-handed but an attempt to apprehend him failed as he slipped off his hands and escaped,” he added.
Kaunda said the girl’s aunt was not home when the incident happened.
He said the traumatized girl narrated her ordeal to her mother who also stays in the same area who in turn reported the matter to Chulu Police Unit who immediately launched a man-hunt for Mvula.
Police arrested Mvula on November 19,2012 and charged him with defilement. He was taken to Kasungu Police Station on Thursday, November 22.
Meanwhile, according to Kaunda a medical examination conducted on the girl at Chulu Health Centre on November 16 confirmed that she was indeed defiled.
Mvula however pleaded not guilty to defilement when he appeared before the Kasungu First Grade Magistrate’s Court on Friday, November 23.
He will be back in court soon when the state is expected to parade witnesses to prove the case against him.
The Zambian has since been remanded to Kasungu Prison.