Man gets 35 years jail term for incest

Sat, 24 Jun 2017 11:05:14 +0000

By CHINTU MALAMBO

THE Lusaka High Court has slapped a 30 year old father of Lusaka with 35 years imprisonment with hard labour for incest and defilement of his 15 year old daughter.

Particulars of the offense were that on unknown dates but between December 16 and December 28th, 2014, Joseph Shula had unlawful canal knowledge of his biological daughter and was found guilty of the office.

Before High Court Judge Maria Kawimbe, the court heard that Shula had on several occasions slept with his daughter whenever he came home drunk, following his divorce with his wife.

The convict was caught in the act by his friend who went to visit him at his house unannounced and later reported the incident to the police.

The court heard that Shula threatened to chop off the head of his daughter and throw her in a ditch, whenever she dared to tell anyone about the abuse.

In her ruling, Judge Kawimbe said she was satisfied with the evidence before her and that Shula exhibited animal behaviour which posed a great danger to society.

“Considering the evidence before the court, the convict was found guilty and brought here for sentencing.

“I am deeply detested by your behaviour, who threatens to chop off the head of their daughter? That is animal behaviour, not familiar in the human world, you pose a great danger to society,” she said.

Justice Kawimbe said Shula had destroyed the life of his daughter who was never going to recover from the abuse and trauma of those incidences and that he should be kept away from society for a very long time.

“You need to go and reflect on your actions and for that reason, you will be kept away from society for a very long time and mitigation on this case cannot be considered, following the weight of this matter,” she said.

Passing Judgment, Justice Kawimbe imposed a 35 year sentence with hard labour, backdated from December 2014, the date of arrest.