By YVONNE CHATE –
THE Supreme Court has quashed a 20-year jail sentence and imposed a 40-year sentence on a man of Lusaka who defiled a nine-year-old girl.
Morris Phiri, 28, of Lilanda Township was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour by a Lusaka High Court for defiling and infecting the child with HIV and syphilis.
Supreme Court Judge Gregory Phiri, sitting in Ndola with Judge Florence Lenga-Lenga and Judge Elizabeth Muyovwe, quashed the 20-year jail sentence and instead slapped a 40-year jail term on the offender after finding no merits in his appeal case.
The magistrate court recorded that in December, there was a power outage in Lilanda and Phiri went to the victim’s house, whose mother was not present at the time.
While in the victim’s room, Phiri took advantage of the girl and had sex with her.
The victim’s mother told the court that her child narrated her ordeal and she was taken to the clinic, where she was confirmed having been defiled.
The High Court found that there were aggravating factors in the case, because the child was not only defiled but also infected with Sexually Transmitted Diseases.
But Phiri appealed the matter based on an element of doubt in identifying the defiler as it was dark in the area due to the power outage.
However, the Supreme Court found no merits in his grounds of appeal as it was a case of recognition and not identification.
The Supreme Court found unusual circumstantial facts in the case, which also induced a shock in them and quashed the 20-year sentence, replacing it with the 40-year sentencing.