A 27-YEAR-OLD civil servant has been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour for sexually abusing a seven-year-old girl in Chipata.

Sampito Mwangala defiled the minor when her parents accommodated him for a few days while in Chipata, where he went to collect his appointment letter from the Ministry of Agriculture.

Particulars of the offence are that Mwangala, on May 11, 2025, in Chipata, unlawfully had carnal knowledge of a girl child below the age of 16.

Mwangala denied the charge and the State called witnesses, including the victim and her mother, to testify.

During trial, the victim narrated that she was in the sitting room with her younger brother when Mwangala asked her younger brother to leave the room and go outside after which Mwangala took her to his bedroom, where he defiled her.

The victim later informed her grandmother, who informed her mother, who took her to Chipata Central Hospital.

Mwangala was apprehended, convicted of the subject offence and committed to the High Court for sentencing, where he appeared before Chipata High Court judge in charge Charles Kafunda.