Sodomy case for Chisamba teacher scheduled for today

TRIAL in which a teacher has been charged with 16 counts of sodomy is scheduled to start today at Kabwe Magistrates’ Court.

This follows the Kabwe High Court’s decision to grant the State an application to change trial venue from Chisamba to Kabwe.

In this case, Brian Bwalya Kalonga, 36, is charged with four counts of unnatural offences, contrary to Section 155(a) of the Penal Code Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia as amended by Act number 15 of 2005.

Kalonga, a teacher at Chisamba’s Anchorage secondary school where he is alleged to have sodomised pupils, is facing four counts of having carnal knowledge of four boys against the order of nature between January 2, 2017 and April 30, 2018.

In the fifth count, Kalonga is charged with attempting to commit unnatural offences, contrary to Section 156 of the Penal Code Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia as amended by Act number 15 of 2005. Particulars of the offence are that between the same dates, Kalonga attempted to have carnal knowledge of a named boy against the order of nature.

In another 11 counts, Kalonga has been charged with indecent practices between persons of the same sex, contrary to Section 158 (1) of the Penal Code Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia as amended by Act number 15 of 2005.

His case was transferred from Chisamba to Kabwe last month following an application by Central Province Deputy Chief State Advocate Gina Nyalugwe because, unlike Chisamba, Kabwe had facilities for young victims of sexual offences.

Kalonga was eventually transferred to Kabwe’s Mpima Remand Prison where he is in custody pending commencement of trial.

After the State’s application, Kalonga asked Chisamba Magistrate Trevor Kasanda to remand him in Chisamba so that his Mazabuka based parents could have access to him.

Later, Kalonga asked the court to wait for his parents before he could be moved to Kabwe. He also applied for bail, adding that his parents were coming from Mazabuka to organize a lawyer for him.

He said his remand at Mpima would increase the distance to be covered by his parents from Mazabuka to Kabwe.

But Magistrate Kasanda denied Kalonga bail for the second time.

“I told you (last time) that you can apply for bail later in the proceedings. You can still have access to the lawyer while in custody. If not, the State can give you a lawyer from the Legal Aid Board

“The accused person has not given satisfactory reasons for him to be remanded in Chisamba. If it is communication that he wants with his parents, such can be done through the clerk of court,” Mr. Kasanda said.

DAILY NATION