By Steve Chirombo

Dedza, December 16, Mana: Dedza Senior Resident Magistrate (SRM) has disclosed that they are receiving more sexual offences than any other cases in the district.

SRM James Mankhwazi made the remarks in an interview with the Malawi News Agency (Mana) on Friday.

He said the sexual cases fall in the category of defilement, apart from other cases of burglary, house breaking and robbery.

“In a month, we register not less than 20 cases of sexual offences alone,” he said.

He however pointed out that his office in the district is understaffed, having only four magistrates in ranks of SRM, First Grade Magistrate, Senior Grade Magistrate and the Third Grade Magistrate, adding there are so many cases being handled by a magistrate.

“Apart from that, police also experience challenges when it comes to bringing witnesses from far places like Ntakataka, Golomoti, Linthipe, Maonde due to financial challenges which also burden us when it comes to completion of cases,” he said.

Speaking in a separate interview, Programs Officer for NGO Progressive, Yamikani Mwaonah, said the figures are worrisome considering that victims of the offences are under aged girls.

He, however, said the development should give a picture that victims are now able to come out and report on various abuses happening to them.

“What we can do is also to continue with the awareness interventions with a focus not only to empower victims on reporting the cases but also reducing their occurrences.

“I should also ask government to consider allocating enough court personnel in districts so that we help reduce the burden of our magistrates being overwhelmed with cases,” he stated.