The Nathenje First Grade Magistrate’s Court in Lilongwe on Monday  sentenced Pastor Isaac Mkukumila of Evangelical Church to 10 years in prison for defiling and impregnating a 14-year-old imbecile girl.  

Pastor Mkukumila, aged 48, who is also Village Headman Chimpesa, pleaded guilty to the charges.

Lilongwe police Public Relations Officer, Sub-Inspector Josephy Kachikho said the court through State Prosecutor, Sub-Inspector George Kachapila, heard that the convict, committed the offence between the months of March to August, 2020 in Chimpesa Village.

“The court further learnt that the victim’s parents are the ones who discovered that their child was pregnant and when she was asked the man responsible, she mentioned Pastor Mkukumila who is also Village headman Chimpesa,” Sub-Inspector Kachikho said.

During the hearing of the case, Prosecutor Kachapila asked the court to give the convict a harsh sentence saying he failed in his responsibility as a traditional leader and a pastor to protect the girl-child.

In his mitigation, Pastor Mkukumila pleaded for lenient sentence, saying he was ready to take care of the pregnancy and the child and being a village headman and a pastor, he has huge followers and that people will suffer if he would be given a longer sentence.

But Passing the sentence, First Grade Magistrate Arthur Mtalimanja, quashed all the mitigating factors arguing that the convict would have first considered all those factors before committing the crime.

He therefore convicted and sentence him to 10 years imprisonment with hard labour to serve as a lesson to would-be offenders.

Pastor Isaac Mkukumila comes from Chimpesa Village in Traditional Authority Chadza in Lilongwe District.