By MILDRED KATONGO –
THE Kitwe high court has slapped a 30-year jail sentence on a 49-year-old man of Chililabombwe for defiling a five-year-old girl.
Judge Chilombo Phiri sent Ian Kapitolo, of Kapitolo farms in Kasumbalesa, to jail after being found guilty, upon admission, of having sex with a minor.
On January 22, this year in Chililabombwe, Kapitolo had sex with the girl who was under the age of 16.
In mitigation, Kapitolo asked the court to be lenient as he was a first offender.
In delivering her sentence, Ms Justice Phiri said there were aggravating circumstances in that the victim was a child and that the convict held the girl by the neck to prevent her from screaming, an act that could have killed the girl due to suffocation.
“Despite considering your submissions in mitigation, I will send you to 30 years imprisonment with hard labour,” she said.
On the material day, the girl while playing with her friends was called by Kapitolo to get biscuits from his house.
Kapitolo defiled the girl when she entered his house, while holding her by the neck to prevent her from shouting for help.
