By ETAMBUYU SANG’ANDU and CHATULA KAMPO –

THE Kitwe High Court has sentenced a 32-year-old man to 40 years imprisonment with hard labour for defiling his 12-year-old cousin.
High Court judge Judy Mulongoti sent to jail Joshua Lungu of Zamtan area in Kitwe.
In passing sentence, Ms Justice Mulongoti noted that there were some aggravating circumstances in the matter, which warranted a stiffer punishment to deter would-be offenders.
Ms Justice Mulongoti said Lungu did not only defile the 12-year-old-girl who was his cousin but also infected the girl with HIV/AIDS.
On January 27, 2012 in Kitwe, Lungu forced himself on his 12- year-old cousin. During trial, the girl told the court that on the material day, she was sent by her grandfather to buy paraffin before Lungu came and stopped her.
The court heard that when she was being sent, her grandmother, who was in a drunken state, was seated outside the house.
The girl told the court that after noticing that it was getting cold, she felt the need to get the grandmother to go inside the house before going ahead to buy paraffin.
She said while trying to convince the grandmother, Lungu asked her to instead go to his house and fetch water for him to which she obliged.
The girl said after fetching the water, Lungu gave her K1 and when she was about to leave, he dragged her inside his house.
He pinned her on the sofa and had sex with her. She said Lungu again on two other occasions had sex with her.
In related case, the Ndola High Court has sentenced a 19-year-old man of Mpongwe to 15 years in prison with hard labour for indecently assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
Ndola High Court Judge Isaac Chali jailed Pheonious Miyoba, a peasant farmer of Nkoloko Village in Chieftainess Malembeka’s area in Mpongwe.
The convict on June 10 last year in Mpongwe indecently assaulted the girl.
Mr Justice Chali, when passing judgment, said the evidence was clear that the  convict,  who was well-known by the complainant committed the offence.
Three witnesses, the girl and her parents testified in the case in the lower court.
The girl testified  that on June 10  last  year   around 16:00 hours, she was  returning from the river where she went to fetch water when she meet  the convict, who was her neighbour.
She said the man tried to stop her but she refused, adding that he later started pursuing her until she fell to the ground.
‘‘ Miyoba  later  sat  on my stomach and started  undressing me, he touched  my  breasts, while I was on the  ground. He ran away after I told him that my father was about to come to where I was,’’ she said.
In passing the sentence, Mr Justice Chali  said prosecution proved the case beyond any reasonable doubt and that the evidence that was given to the trial court was corroborating.