Women strippers sentenced

Details

Category: News Flash

Published on Tuesday, 26 June 2012 10:34

Written by Queen Nhlema

Malawi’s court on Tuesday sentenced five men to five years imprisonment with hard labor each for undressing women and girls wearing trousers, leggings, shorts and miniskirts in the capital, Lilongwe in January this year.

The five identified as; Tsonga Williasi, Edward Kazinga, Petro Patulani, Alfonso Thomas and William Kapito were facing charges of indecent assault.

Some vigilantes claiming to be vendors went on rampage stripping naked the women early this year in the major cities of Lilongwe, Blantyre and Mzuzu.

And the five were alleged to have stripped and injured Fatima Milanzie when she was coming from a hair salon while wearing a wrapper at Chigwirizano Trading Center.

They were also suspected to have stolen the money from the woman and mobile phone worth twenty thousand kwacha.

The victim, identified 10 people as her attackers, but only five were found guilty.

Passing the sentence, Lilongwe Magistrate Banda said what the men did was inhuman hence the need for stiffer punishment to deter others from committing a similar offence.

The attacks attracted condemnation from both the local and international human rights organizations including late president Bingu wa Mutharika.

Women activists and Human rights defenders held a protest meeting in Blantyre on January 20,  where a cross section of people, including the country’s female President Joyce Banda, then as vice president, former gender minister Reen Kachere and other politicians, gathered to condemn the abuse of women by the vendors.

When the attacks started Banda had told the local media that economic frustrations should be blamed for the ill conduct of the vendors.

“There is so much suffering that people have decided to vent their frustrations on each other,” she said.