February 2007
Stiffer Penalties Not Helping To Reduces Cases of Defilement - Judge
By Madube Pasi Siyauya
STIFFER penalties for sexual offences have not helped reduce the scourge, Ndola High Court Judge Munalula Lisimba has observed.
Speaking at the opening of the Northern Province High Court Session Justice Lisimba said despite parliament having amended Act 15 of the Penal code which prescribed a minimum sentence of 15 years imprisonment for defilement, this had not helped to reduce the number of defilement cases.
Justice Lisimba said the courts always played their role by meting out more than the minimum prescribed sentence but many people had continued to commit the offence.
He said statistics Kasama General Hospital showed that the health institution received at least three cases of defilement everyday. He said the number of committal cases for defilement were also on the increase.
Justice Lisilmba said in this session of the High Court in Kasama, the court already had 47 defilement cases listed for sentencing or revision.
He said this was frightening.
"We believe the first scenario is the myth that having sex with a virgin cures HIV/AIDS. The second scenario is that the general populace may be ignorant of the seriousness of the offence of defilement. This therefore calls for concerted efforts by all the stakeholders to carry out a sensitisation campaign to dispel this myth and educate the people about the consequences, both to the victim and the perpetrator of committing this offence," he said.
Justice Lisimba urged non-governmental organisations (NGO) to spend a major portion of their resources on sensitisation.
He also urged the media and the Church to join this campaign.
"Elections are over at list for the time being even organs of the various political parties should also take part in sensitising people in their localities about this crime," he said.