By Jones Gadama
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The High Court in Lilongwe has handed down a 60-year prison sentence with hard labour to 26-year-old Chisomo Harold after convicting him for raping a woman and robbing her family during a violent break-in last month.
Justice Ken Manda delivered the sentence after the matter was committed to the High Court by the Chief Resident Magistrate’s Court.
Harold received 60 years for rape and an additional 30 years for robbery, with both terms running concurrently.
He will therefore serve 60 years behind bars.
Court records show the attack happened at Area 46 in Lilongwe.
Prosecutor Richard Kandeya told the court that Harold and three other men, still at large, stormed a house at night wearing face masks and carrying panga knives, metal bars and a hammer.
Two of the intruders, including Harold, assaulted a woman while her husband and children watched.
The gang then fled with MK420,000 in cash, three bicycles, two mobile phones and other household goods.
Police arrested Harold days later along the Lilongwe River behind Sana Mega Stores, where he was reportedly hiding.
Investigators recovered one bicycle, a phone and other property after tracking where some items had been sold.
Harold is said to be linked to a group of street-connected youths known locally as “Amasikini”.
When he appeared in the Chief Resident Magistrate’s Court, Harold pleaded guilty to both charges.
The court convicted him after a full trial and referred sentencing to the High Court because the crimes carry potential life terms.
During mitigation, the State urged a harsh sentence, arguing the attack was brutal and targeted a family in their home.
Prosecutor Kandeya also told the court Harold was not a first-time offender.
He had been jailed for 32 months last year by the Lilongwe First Grade Magistrate Court for a robbery-related offence.
However, two presidential amnesties cut that term short and he was released in November 2025, just months before this latest crime.
Chief Resident Magistrate Austin Banda noted that the earlier punishment failed to reform him.
He said Harold had escalated from theft to violent burglary and then to an offence that invaded the privacy and safety of a wife and mother.
Harold comes from Ntemwende Village, Traditional Authority Tambala (T.A) in Dedza District.
The three accomplices remain fugitives as police continue investigations.
