By DELPHINE ZULU
 –

A NINENTEEN-YEAR-OLD pupil at Kabulonga Girls Secondary School in Lusaka who killed her newly-born baby has been slapped with a one-year jail sentence by a Lusaka High Court.
The sentence has, however, been suspended for one year.
High Court Judge Mwila Chitabo urged school-going children to desist
from engaging in early sexual encounters which could land them into
trouble and affect their education.
The girl was charged with infanticide after she killed her baby by throwing it in Ngwerere Stream in Lusaka.
She had wrapped her baby in a black plastic bag a few minutes after giving birth and asked her friends whom she was staying with to go and throw it in the stream on January 25, this year.
Mr Justice Chitabo in passing sentence,  said children were a gift
from God and that the fate of any baby lay in the hands of the mother
who should be ready to take care of them and not to suffocate them to
death.
‘‘This offence is serious, other people do not have this gift which
they desire. You are only 19 and I will exercise lenience on you so
that you can go and reform as well as finish your education.
“ I hope you have learnt serious lessons from this action, I sentence you to 
one year simple imprisonment but suspended for another year,’’ Mr
Justice Chitabo said.
In mitigation, the girl said she was young, a pupil and first offender
who deserved to be forgiven.
She said she wanted to complete her education so that she could be
a responsible citizen.