A THIRTY-THREE-YEAR-OLD Mkushi  Bricklayer  who  assaulted  and  defiled  a  12-year-old  girl  has  been sentenced  to  20 years  imprisonment with hard labour.

Lusaka based High Court Judge Chalwe Mchenga, sitting in Kabwe, also sentenced  two  men  of Kapiri Mposhi and  and  Mkushi to  17 and  15 years  imprisonment with hard labour, respectively after  they were convicted of defilement and indecent assault.

In the first matter Justice Mchenga said he was sentencing the man to 20 years in prison to send a warning to would-be offenders considering similar offences.

This is in a case in which Chanda Mambwe is on October 28, 2012 allegedly to have defiled the girl while she was collecting caterpillars in the bush.

During trial, the girl testified that on the fateful day she was with her two siblings in the bush catching  caterpillars  when the accused  attacked her and beater her up.

She said she called for help and asked her sisters to run and call security guards at a nearby farm and that it was at that point the accused defiled her and managed to run away before help arrived.

In passing sentence justice Mchenga said his actions were uncalled for and that it was saddening that cases of defilement and other gender based violence were on an increase and that the court would not relent in ensuring those found guilty faced the law.

In the Kapiri Mposhi case the court sentenced Darius Changwe to 17 years imprisonment for defiling a 15-year-old girl who later became pregnant.

The girl testified during the trial testified that she was coming from school  when the  Changwe  attacked her and dragged her into a nearby bush where he defiled her but only revealed the incident after the  pregnancy started showing.

She said she could not tell her mother because he had threatened to kill her if she disclosed what had happened.

In the other case the court sentenced Joseph Longwani to 15 years in prison for indecently assaulting a girl.

The girl told the court that Longwani, who was her neighbour, attacked her while she was  sleeping in her mother’s  house.

She woke up to find him touching her private parts.