Kitwe High Court Acquits pastor

MWILA NTAMBI, Kitwe
THE Kitwe High Court has acquitted a 30-year-old pastor of Chingola, who was earlier found guilty of indecently assaulting a church member aged 13.
Judge Chilombo Phiri quashed the lower court’s conviction of Luckson Lupupa because the prosecution did not prove the case beyond all reasonable doubt.
This came to light in a case where Lupupa, a pastor at Excellent Ministries, was facing one count of indecent assault contrary to the laws of Zambia.
Particulars are that on April 28, last year in Chingola, Lupupa indecently assaulted a girl.
He pleaded not guilty to the charge but at the end of the trial, he was convicted of the offence and committed to the High Court for sentencing.
However, his defence team raised some issues for the court to resolve before the sentence could be passed.
Delivering her judgment on review, Mrs Justice Phiri observed that the trial court misdirected itself by convicting Lupupa when the case had not been proved beyond reasonable doubt.
She observed that the evidence of the prosecutrix raised doubts as to whether she was actually defiled or not.
Furthermore, Mrs Justice Phiri added that there were no clear reasons why the prosecutrix never reported or told anyone about the alleged indecent assault until after three to four months.
The judge said the two defence witnesses, whom the complainant allegedly met immediately after the incident, could have observed that something was wrong with her.
She quashed the lower court’s judgment and acquitted the accused person.
During trial in the lower court, the complainant testified that on the material day, she went to the pastor’s house to see his younger brother so that they could go for praise and worship at a church member’s house.
She narrated that she did not find the pastor’s younger brother but decided to wait for him.
The girl said the pastor then took her to his bedroom and started asking her if she knew how to kiss.
When she answered in the negative, he asked if she was interested in learning and he allegedly undressed her and himself too.
The prosecutrix said the pastor inserted his manhood into her private part but immediately removed it when he heard people outside.

Daily Mail

Posted by Kunda on May 14, 2015. Filed under LATEST NEWS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry