High Court Judge in Bl;antyre, Justice Ruth Chinangwa, on Wednesday sentenced former Chief Commercial Officer for Medical Aid Society of Malawi (MASM), Andrew Ngomwa, to 35 years imprisonment for defilement, 25 years for rape and four years for indecent act in the presence of a minor.

The sentences which will run concurrently, comes following Ngomwa’s conviction for defiling and raping his 15-year-old niece an incident which occurred in 2020.

He was convicted by the Magistrates Court on January 24, 2022 but the matter was sent to High Court because of its seriousness which deserved a sentence of more than 21 years which could not be passed by the lower court.

Speaking to YFM online, one of the state lawyers, Gift Msume, said they are satisfied with the sentence although they wanted the court to give a sentence of not less than 40 years.

“As the prosecution team we have received the sentence and we are very happy although we opted for 40 years but still this is not far from what we wanted,” said Msume.

On January 24, 2022, Blantyre Chief Resident Magistrate Jean Kaira found guilty and convicted Ngomwa of three counts of rape, defilement and indecent practice in the presence of a child.

She, however, acquitted him of procuring defilement by administering drug.

The magistrate also removed from his six charges two counts of sexual intercourse with a minor under one’s care on grounds that they are a duplication of rape and defilement cases.

Ngomwa was arrested in 2020 after revelations of the rape.

The convict was living with the girl in his house but when she went back home the girl’s mother, who is Ngomwa’s sister, noticed that the child was looking sick.

She took the girl to hospital where tests revealed that the child had been defiled.