MIXED emotions have caught the family of a 13-year-old girl of Lusaka, Chilenje South area who was reportedly abducted by her boyfriend in February this year and only found on Saturday at a named lodge in Garden Compound with a man aged 25.
Despite, the happiness of finding their daughter alive after a long search, especially during a time when most missing victims are found dead, the child’s grandmother, Rita Phiri, says their greatest worry as a family is that she was discovered pregnant.
“The thing that kept us all worried most is that she is pregnant especially looking at her age, but there is nothing we can do, however, as a family we will keep the child.”
The grade Seven Pupil of Muyoma Primary School went missing on the morning of February 19, 2024 when she was going for school.
According to the grandmother, the child was abducted on her way to school, after she met the alleged boyfriend, Chilufya Matapo, 25, an assistant Human Resource Officer at ZAFFICO.
It is reported that Matapo was in a Yango, and offered to give her a lift, but instead, he took her to a lodge in an unknown area were he locked her up.
And since then, Matapa had been moving her from lodge to lodge around Lusaka, until Police working with ZICTA finally caught up with him during the weekend, putting an end to his illegal honey moon.
“We then lodged a complaint for a missing person but after months of searching for her, we thought our daughter was killed,” the grandmother told Kalemba.
She went on to describe the girl as a good child, who was dedicated to church and school before the sudden incident occurred, adding that finding her with a man was least on their expectations.
“We never thought that she could be found with a man, she was a good child, she would go to church with her friends and come back, she would go to school, learn and also come back. So even the time that all this happened, we were all just supprised,” said the grandmother.
She further revealed that the incident has left the juvenile disturbed as she revealed to the family that she was subjected to smoke and drink certain substances by her abductor that she even vomited at some point.
When asked if she would like to continue with school, the girl who was described as a bright child said she plans to continue with school, despite what happened to her.
As at now, all the family wishes for is the jailing of Matapo, who is currently in police detention.
The family added that all they want is for justice to prevail towards the matter.
As at now, the family has been busy with hospital appointments as the survivor is currently undergoing health tests.
By Buumba Mwitumwa
Kalemba July 2, 2024
