THE Lusaka Magistrate’s Court has found a Presbytery Church pastor guilty of d£filing his granddaughter aged 11.
Magistrate Mutinta Mwenya convicted Allan Muchulu yesterday and committed him to the High Court for sentencing.
In this matter Allan Muchulu, of Lusaka’s Meanwood, is charged with d£filement of a child.
The d£filement of the child took place in March last year, in Meanwood.
And during trial, the girl narrated before a magistrate that the cleric had s£x with her several times and would go to her bedroom in the night when she is not menstruating.
The accused pleaded not guilty and the State called several witnesses to testify against him for allegedly d£filing the granddaughter of his brother-in-law.
During trial, the court heard that the victim, who is a double orphan, was being kept by Muchulu and his wife, who is the victim’s grandmother.
The court also heard that owing to alleged politics in Mrs Muchulu’s family, the pastor was allegedly implicated in the crime.
Lusaka resident magistrate Mutinta Mwenya later found Muchulu with a case to answer and placed him on defence.
In defence, Muchulu denied s£xually abusing the minor, whom he described as a pathological liar.
The cleric also claimed that his wife’s relatives framed him.
“I stand here very surprised and shocked that I could have committed such a thing. I believe I have been framed because it is very juicy to hear what is happening about a pastor. As far as I know, I did not do what they are alleging I have done,” Muchulu said.
But during cross-examination by public prosecutor Malama Chisenga, Muchulu described the victim as a pathological liar.
“Are you a doctor to confirm that she is a pathological liar?” Ms Chisenga asked, as the accused said “no”.
And in her judgment, magistrate Mwenya said Muchulu’s defence and accusation of the victim of being a liar was an afterthought.
“I find it an afterthought for the defence to tarnish the image or character of the victim that she is a liar to merely evade the wheels of justice as this could have been raised in cross examination of the prosecution witness,” she said.
The court pronounced the clergyman guilty of the offence because allegations were proved against him.
Magistrate Mwenya further ruled out possibility of false implication and that she believed the testimony of the victim, who struggled to open up as during trial as she looked sad, distressed and disturbed.
Credit: Mwebantu
