By MAYA NTANDA –
A FIFTY-YEAR-OLD man of Kitwe has been jailed for 15 years for defiling his eight-year-old granddaughter.
High Court Judge Timothy Katenekwa slapped the sentence on Joseph Mwansa of house number C164, Saint Anthony Township, who defiled the minor during her school holiday.
Mwansa defiled the girl between December last year and January this year.
Mr Justice Katenekwa said the convict committed a serious offence which required a mandatory jail sentence.
He said because of Mwansa’s action, the girl would forever be traumatised and would carry a scar inside her, for the rest of her life.
Mr Justice Katenekwa, however, said he had considered what Mwansa had said in mitigation that he was a first offender.
Evidence in court was that during the period in question, the girl had gone to her grandparents’ place for her school holiday.
She had testified that one day when her grandmother was not home, Mwansa grabbed her by force and had sex with her.
“I went for the holiday and when my grandmother was not home, my grandfather pulled me, took me to the bedroom and had sex with me.  He said he would kill me if I told anyone,” she said.
The girl told the court that she experienced excruciating pain.
The court heard that the girl’s grandmother noticed that the girl was distraught and after questioning her, she revealed what Mwansa had done.
The matter was then reported to the police, leading to Mwansa’s arrest.