By NORMA SIAME and PERPETUAL SICHIKWENKWE –

A TEN-YEAR-OLD girl has testified in court how she was left an invalid after she was defiled by her father’s friend.
This is in case in which Augustine Lesa, 67, of Mungwi District is being tried for defiling a girl under the age of 16.
The victim was brought before principal resident magistrate Vincent Siloka to testify how Lesa allegedly defiled her.
Her mother had a blanket where the girl lay down in court as she narrated how Lesa called her to get money belonging to her father while on her way to school.
The girl positively identified Lesa as her assailant and said she refused to collect the money on behalf of her father.
She said Lesa followed her and dragged her to his home where he undressed and later defiled.
Graphically describing her ordeal to the court, the minor said Lesa, after having sexual intercourse with her, got a lump of nshima which she forced her to swallow.
He then started reciting an incantation followed by an insult in Bemba to bind her tongue so that she would not reveal what had happened.
The girl, who managed to walk home, told her parents what had happened and Lesa was subsequently arrested on January 29.
Since the ordeal, the girl has not been able to perform bodily functions unaided and looked frail.
She kept groaning in pain as she was led out of court after testifying.
Trial continues.
In Lusaka, a woman who allegedly stabbed her young sister to death appeared in the Lusaka magistrate’s court yesterday on a murder charge.
Facts are that the incident happened when Falecy Sakala, 26, of George Township was fighting with her boyfriend’s girlfriend but missed her target and ended up stabbing her sister Belinda, 24, with a knife.
Belinda, who was stabbed on the left side of the neck, bled profusely and died on her way to the clinic.
The incident happened on January 31.
Principal magistrate Aridah Chuulu allocated the matter to Magistrate Lameck Ng’ambi for plea and prosecution.