AN ELDER from a Seventh Day Adventist Church in Chibombo District, Central Province is being investigated by police for allegedly defiling a 14-year-old girl in the presence of her sister.
Zambia Police Spokesperson Rae Hamoonga, who confirmed the incident said police are waiting for a medical form to be signed and returned to Mwanjuni police post at 10 Miles.
Hamoonga said police have not officially arrested the charged elder, Lovemore Hang’andu yet.
It is alleged that elder Hanga’andu defiled the minor after he locked her up in her and her twin sister in his house
The girl was allegedly defiled in April this year and her guardians only discovered about the ordeal when she was 3 months pregnant.
The aunt to the victim said her young sister, who is mother to the victim is blind.
She said elder Hanga’andu who was transferred to the Kapopo SDA congregation became close to the victim’s mother after she gave him a piece of land to cultivate crops.
The source said the elder was well known to the family and that one day, he requested that the twins should go to his house and help him clean.
“I never thought that a man of God, who presides over a church, can defile my niece. He was so good to the children and everyone in the village,” she said.
The source said on June 30, 2023, she went to her sister’s house and discovered that one of the twins was not looking well.
She said she immediately took the twins to the hospital, where it was revealed that one of them was pregnant.
The source said when she asked the girl pointed her fingers to the SDA elder, Hanga’andu.
She said on July 1, 2023, she went to Kapopo’s SDA congregation in the campany of her male relatives and found the man of God preaching before the congregants.
“We pounced on him, apprehended him, and took him to the police station where he was detained. We are just waiting for a medical report form so that police can formally charge him,” she said.
The victim said on the material day, the elder asked her and her twin sister to accompany him to his house so they could help him clean his house.
She narrated that upon arrival, the two sisters started cleaning the kitchen and that when her sister went to clean the living room, the suspect asked her to go and sweep the bedroom after locking the doors to the house.
“He dragged me to his bedroom, undressed me, and started defiling me. My sister heard and she came to the bedroom but he did not stop and he had locked the door. After he got tired, he took two sharp knives and threatened to kill me and my sister if I told anyone about what happened. He even phoned people and told them that they should be watching us and inform him if we told anyone. We got scared and just kept it to ourselves,” the victim narrated.
She said after sometime, she started getting sick and she did not see her period but he did not realise that she was pregnant.
The mother to the victim said it was sad that a man she trusted allegedly defiled and impregnated her daughter.
Credit: Zambia Daily Mail
