The Zomba Senior Resident Magistrate’s Court recently convicted Father Numeri Mweta, 39, for abducting, defiling and procuring a 15-year-old girl. He has been renting houses for the girl since July 2018. He was subsequently sentenced to 17 years imprisonment. In mitigation, the defence by Mwera to consider him because the girl was not a virgin does not make sense.
Two things; let me take a swipe at this defence. I understand that on everyone must try hard to defend themselves in a court of law. However, his claim that the girl did not lose her virginity to him is absurd. Did he borther to do such a virginity test prior to gaining canal knowledge of the minor? Did the status quo accord Mweta the right to ‘finish what others started’? Apparently, the priest did not sin at all, but was simply accomplishing a similar mission others before did. My! Whatever happened to the protection of our girls and their innocence, even when they seem to initiate a wrong? That is the worst defence I have ever heard, especially considering this girls’ plight. Who shall the girl turn to if society is first to cast the stone on her? Given an opportunity, I would protest legally against this defence as it is not only defamatory, but against principles of humanity, rights and the utter role of an adult towards a minor.
Secondly, a group of women in some forum elsewhere were also hot on the defence of the Catholic priest. Their argument was that in spite of age, girls like our subject are ‘adults’ at heart and action. They seem to believe that many girls ask for criminal acts through their dressing, conduct and body language. They argue that girls seem to be exposed to things beyond their ages; hence provoke men.
Well I have news to these women and everyone else whose line of thinking falls right within. The mere fact that girls behave in that manner depicts the innocence that nobody wants to see. They see probably and emulate. It’s not their fault, unless someone stands up to guide and direct them, then they shall see and behave likewise. What has anybody done to give that guidance, including those women with loud mouths? If a minor initiates sex or intimacy and the stupid adult responds, he remains the idiot that the law has no time to defend. That is why the actions of a minor are protected by the law. Period.
Thank you Magistrate Roderick Michongwe for ignoring the virginity aspect and dealing the blow the priest got. Your part judgment: “He took advantage of her immaturity and exploited her. This has brought unbearable consequences to the victim and her parents as the bond between them and the child was disturbed” depicts some sanity some of you still have. n
