By MARILYN ROSE –

A SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD garden boy yesterday stunned a Kitwe magistrate’s court when he said the girl he was accused of defiling was his wife and was five months pregnant.
The boy, of Kwacha Township, was charged with defilement after he had sex with a 14-year-old girl between December last year and August this year.
When the charge was read out to him, by magistrate Densen Muchaba, he denied the charge.
He said he was not guilty of the charge because the girl he was accused of defiling was in fact his wife.
The juvenile told the court that he was surprised that he was arrested by the Police when he had been living with his ‘wife’ until he was detained by the Police last month.
“I don’t even know why my in-law has brought me to court because this girl is my wife and we are expecting a baby. We have been living together all along until I was arrested and put in custody,” he said
He told the court that he earned a living through scrubbing floors and demanded that his ‘wife’ should testify what she knew about the case.
When the court asked the boy whether his parents or guardians were aware of his incarceration, he said both his parents had died and his grandmother was not aware that he was in Police custody.
This prompted the court to summon the grandmother who informed the court that she was aware that her grandson was married to the girl in question.
The matter comes up on September 11 for hearing.