Security Guard Gets Five Years for Brutally Attacking 10-Year-Old Neighbor

A magistrate in Lusaka has sentenced a security guard to five years in prison with hard labor for violently attacking his 10-year-old neighbor, leaving the child with multiple knife wounds that needed over 30 stitches.

Magistrate Mutinta Mwenya delivered the sentence to 29-year-old Christopher Chitangala, who confessed to assaulting the boy, known as Junior, in Ng’ombe Township on April 22, 2025. The child suffered deep cuts on his head, thighs, and hands in an attack the court labeled “inhumane and unjustifiable.”

During the hearing, Chitangala, who is also a student, claimed he was drunk during the attack and accused Junior of stealing his mobile phone and a portable radio. However, the magistrate rejected his excuse, stating that being under the influence of alcohol does not justify such violence.

“Did anyone force a beer bottle to your mouth?” Magistrate Mwenya asked him, to which he replied no. “So you cannot use that as an excuse,” she stated.

The court learned that on the day of the incident, Chitangala tricked the boy into coming to his house by asking him to buy a K10 sausage. After Junior returned, Chitangala locked him inside, ominously asking if he knew what it felt like to die. He then brutally beat the child, slammed him against a wall, and used a knife hidden under his bed to attack him.

The assault ended only when Junior started bleeding heavily from his legs, prompting Chitangala to escape.

Medical reports confirmed that the child needed over 30 stitches due to the severity of his injuries.

In his final plea, Chitangala asked the court for mercy, admitting he had learned not to take the law into his own hands. “When someone steals, I should not take the law into my own hands,” he said.

Magistrate Mwenya, however, highlighted the seriousness of the crime and deemed the mandatory minimum sentence of five years suitable, given the child’s injuries.

“You harmed a 10-year-old child in that way. This court cannot overlook the seriousness of your actions,” she stated as she announced the verdict.