The Appellant was arrested for allegedly having unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under the age of 16 years on 15/3/2013 at Chatumbwa village in the Rumphi District. He was charged with defilement, but pleaded not guilty. He was however found guilty, convicted and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment with hard labour. He appealed both the conviction and sentence principally on grounds that the prosecution did not discharge the burden of proof to the required standard; that he was convicted based on uncorroborated evidence and there was no circumstantial evidence to support the prosecution case. The sentence was amended from 10 to 8 years, running from the date of his arrest.