A GRADE 8 pupil of Lusaka’s Chilenje South Secondary School who had been reported abducted in February this year has been found at a lodge where she has been staying with her 30-year-old boyfriend.
Aged only 13-year, the girl is now three months pregnant.
Her boyfriend, Chilufya Matapo, an assistant Human Resource Officer at ZAFFICO has been taken into police detention to explain to police why he had decided to recruit a minor into an illegal marriage instead of employing staff in his institution to help expand tree plantations in all provinces, especially in the wake of Climate Change.
Following her dissappearance, the girl’s parents had been receiving mobile phone messages, supposedly from her abductors demanding a ransom in exchange for her release.
The matter was reported to Woodlands Police Station but when there seemed to be little progress in the investigation, the parents sought the intervention of the Zambia Information Technology Authority (ZICTA).
“We urgently request your assistance in tracking the mentioned mobile numbers to find and rescue Agness. Your help in this matter would be greatly appreciated by the family,” her father pleaded with ZICTA in a letter.
The father explained that, his daughter was last seen in her school uniform five days after Valentines Day.
“On February 20, our family received ransom calls from the following numbers; 0773775938, 0770494307, 097722885472, 0777591183 and 0779496244,” the letter revealed.
Upon receiving the complaint, ZICTA promptly activated the Zambia National Cyber Security Task Force and went to work in tracking the numbers.
The investigation eventually led to a lodge in Garden House where the girl was found willingly playing adult games with her Matapo.
A quick eye analysis of her anatomy revealed telling signs of pregnancy.
In an on-the-spot interrogation, the girl admitted to have run away from home at the prompting of her lover.
The minor said Matapo he talked her into running away from home and moving in with him on the promise that he would give her everything she wanted.
“When he goes for work, he never used to lock me inside but he cautioned against going out as people would see me,” the girl told officers that raided the room they had been staying in this afternoon.
As his game neared the end, Matapo decided he was going to fight for his love and his freedom, attempting to escape after wrestling a pistol from an officer.
However, his bravery was short-lived as the trained officers quickly overpowered him.
The sound of painful slaps echoed through the air, leaving Matapo’s cheeks stinging and red.
The once-defiant suspect was reduced to tears, begging to see his mother.
By Salim Dawood
Kalemba June 29, 2024
