By Prisca Promise Mashushu
Lilongwe, Tuesday 8, Mana: The Senior Resident Magistrate's court at Lilongwe has convicted and sentenced 20-year-old Daudi Mchitakupha, for raping a 24-year-old woman at Chinsapo 1 graveyard.
The victim is a student nurse at one of the nursing colleges in the capital.
According to Lilongwe police Public Relations Officer, Inspector Hastings Chigalu, the court heard from Prosecutor Inspector Bauleni Namasani of Lilongwe Police, that Mchitakupha committed the offence on June 25, 2023.
“On this day at around 01:00 hours the victim left her school campus on a taxi for Chinsapo, destined to meet her boyfriend at a certain bottle store where the latter provided DJ services to patrons.
“Just when the victim walked towards the bottle store premises from the road, the convict and two of his colleagues, armed with panga knives, stabbed the student's boyfriend who was waiting to welcome her;” he said.
Chigalu added that the boyfriend found space and escaped the scene leaving the woman behind, before the convict and company dragged her into the nearby graveyard.
“With assistance of one of his colleagues who grabbed the victim by the neck so that she never shouted for help, the convict raped the woman.
“He was arrested three months later, but his colleagues still remain at large,” Chigalu explained.
Daudi pleaded not guilty when he appeared in court but the court convicted him upon accounts of witnesses.
In submission, the State through Prosecutor Namasani, prayed for a stiffer sentence citing the serious nature of the offence Mchitakupha committed, and the manner in which it was committed.
Passing his sentence, Senior Resident Magistrate Bracious Kondowe concurred with the state saying the convict's behavior clearly demonstrated that he is a threat, and deserved to be isolated from the society.
Magistrate Kondowe then pronounced the 18-year imprisonment sentence to serve as a deterrent to other would be offenders.
Daudi Mchitakupha hails from Ngwangwa Village, Traditional Authority Malili in Lilongwe District.
