Traditional Doctor Jailed 11Yrs For Defilement

First Grade Magistrate Court in Chikwawa on Wednesday sentenced a 44-year- old traditional healer to serve 11- year- jail term for defilement.

The court heard through Police Prosecutor, Sergeant Emmanuel Namarwa that Goodson Bandecha was on April 12, 2020 invited to treat two girls of Lawrence Chandendema who had suffered from abdominal pains.”Bandecha agreed to do the assignment.

He advised the father of the girls not to be present and later demanded that he treats the girls one after another in the house.”Whilst in the course of his duty, he ordered one of the girls, aged 13, to take off her clothes and lie on the mat where he defiled her,” Namarwa told the court.

Bandecha pleaded not guilty to the charge which prompted the state to parade five witnesses who testified against him.

“Your Lordship, I wish the court gave a harsh custodial sentence to the offender. You may be well aware that the defilement crimes are high in the district. You can also agree with me that the offender planned to commit the offence,” Sergeant Namarwa prayed to the court.

In mitigation, Bandecha asked the court to give him lenient sentence, saying he has a family which depends on him.The Magistrate Gladstone Chirundu concurred with the stateand ordered Bandecha to spend 11 years behind bars.Goodson Bandecha, 44, hails from Wizalamu Village in Traditional Authority Mphuka in Thyolo District.

In a related development, the same court on the same day also convicted and sentenced Smart Banda for defilement.The court heard through the prosecutor Sub Inspector Danford Otala that on March 24, 2020 in the evening hours, Smart met with a young girl who went to visit her step mother from her nearby grandmother’s house.On her way, she met Banda who dragged her to a nearby bush where he undressed the girl before defiling her, according to Otala.

“Banda ordered the girl not to reveal the matter to anybody. However, the following day the girl revealed the matter to her mother, a development which led to the arrest of Banda” stated Otala.

Banda pleaded not guilty to the charge of defilement but four witnesses testified against him.In his judgment, Magistrate Gladstone Chirundu ordered Banda to serve 10 years imprisonment with hard labour.Aged 45, Banda hails from Nyamphota Village under Paramount Chief Lundu in Chikwawa District.

Source: MANA