Four years behind bars for attempted rape

 An uncle who could not restrain his sexual desire to the point of attempting to rape his own niece in Mangochi has earned himself a 48-month jail term for the criminal act.

Mangochi Senior Resident Magistrate Court handed down the sentence to the man, Paul Daniel, 40, on Wednesday upon the convict’s own plea of guilty to the charges of attempted rape leveled against him.

The court heard that Daniel committed the crime on April 5, 2019, at Mwenyemusa Village in Traditional Authority Chimwala, where he followed his 19-year-old niece to the bathroom and attempted to rape her when she wanted to bathe.

“As the 19-year-old niece was removing her clothes to take a bath, she suddenly saw her uncle in the bathroom who forcibly grabbed her, tore her undergarments including petticoat and pants and attempted to rape her,” State Prosecutor, Sub-Inspector Maxwell Mwaluka told the court.

He said the niece shouted for help and that the offender’s mother and other relatives nearby came to the scene and apprehended him before taking him to Chimwala Police Unit.

In court, Daniel pleaded guilty to the offence before Senior Resident Magistrate Joshua Nkhono who found the accused with a case to answer.

Senior Magistrate Nkhono, therefore, convicted the accused upon his own plea of guilty.

In submission, the state described the conduct of the accused as a threat to the society in general and women in particular, hence prayed for stiff penalty.

But in mitigation, Daniel asked the court for leniency, saying he was driven by evil spirits to act in the way he did towards his own niece.

However, SRM Nkhono concurred with the state in his judgment and handed down the 48-month jail term to Daniel to serve as a deterrent measure to other would-be-offenders.

Daniel hails from Mwenyemusa Village in Traditional Authority Chimwala in Mangochi. �oY+��