Dr Austin Mbozi
Dr Austin Mbozi

UNZA don, Austin Mbozi defends himself from aexual allegations

UNIVERSITY of Zambia lecturer Austin Mbozi has denied molesting a 20-year-old student before the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court.

Mbozi, who admitted offering the student employment, explained that he pitied her and only wanted to advance her in education as she was desperate for an international scholarship and he feared that it would cause her trouble.

This is in a matter where Mbozi is charged with indecent assault on females.

It is alleged that Mbozi, 52, on September 28, 2020 unlawfully and indecently assaulted a 20-year-old student.

According to her testimony, the victim said Mbozi fondled her waist, breasts and thighs after he tricked her that he would offer her a contract as a typist in his office.

Opening his defence before magistrate Felix Kaoma, Mbozi narrated that on the material day he went to Goma football pitch to check on his son Wankumbu Mbozi who plays football at the same pitch around 16:00 hours and that it is when he ran into the victim.

“Our eyes met accidentally with the victim; we accidentally bumped into each other, we said hi. She seemed to be looking like someone is calling. I asked her that; ‘you seem to be looking for somebody’ and she said she had come to see a friend. She added that she lives in Kalingalinga,” Mbozi narrated. “I told her, ‘since you come from Kalingalinga, help me look for someone who might want part time work to sell a book (Language politics in Zambia) which I published in 2018 and run a soccer academy for kids’. She said me I can work. I said if you are the one who wants to work let’s go, I show you my office and we walked to the office with her. The office is at education department in room no. 106.”

Mbozi said when they got to this office there were distance students waiting for him.

He said because of the waiting students he rescheduled his meeting with the alleged victim and told her to see him on another day so that they could discuss the contract.

“She said, ‘ah, instead of me (victim) coming another day, I will come later on; I am going to see my friend’. We exchanged numbers and I told her I will call you when I finish. When my distance students left before 17:00 hours I told her to come,” Mbozi said further. “When she came to my office she wanted to sit on my colleague’s chair but I stopped her and she sat on a stool next to me. I asked her how far she went in school and she said up to grade 12. I gave her a piece of paper and told her to write her grade 12 results. The results appeared to be average; they were good. I asked her why she wasn’t going to college or university and want a job like this one, and she said she did not apply because she wouldn’t get a scholarship because there were people who had better results than her.”

Mbozi said he was satisfied that the 20-year-old was qualified for the job at his company, Unmas Sports Academy, and assured her that she would get a better job as he would recommend her to other companies.

He said he asked the victim if she was computer literate and she confirmed and started operating his computer. Later she shoved his chair and the student moved her chair close to his.

“I said open YouTube and open Soccer Excellence Academy because they do things like what we do. She said let me show you where I have been applying for scholarships. She had so many adverts about international scholarships, I started sympathising with her and told her to go to embassies instead because I feared she would get in danger,” Mbozi explained. “Since she was desperate for a school, I told her we would sign a contract and I would pay her K2,000 on a condition that she would report for work everyday and she would apply for a scholarship under distance at UNZA. I told her by condition 1,000 I give you and the other thousand I pay to the university. I thought it was going to be easier because I work there.”

He said he suggested that the victim’s parents or guardians sign the contract so that he could sue any of the parties, in an event that she breached it after he sponsored her education.

“I showed her the same contract with a previous worker though it didn’t work out. At that point we concluded our conversation, she said she wanted to go and consult her guardians. On September 30, 2020 I received a call from UNZA security that I should go and see them there. I asked why and they said ‘you had complained that your son lost a ball’, I assured them I would go there when I have time,” Mbozi said. “I didn’t go there because I didn’t see it as a matter of urgency and after a week, two security people came to my office saying the chief security officer wanted to see me. I told them they were making me uncomfortable because he is the one who was looking for me in 2018 when I was accused of insulting former president Edgar Lungu and the police were investigating the matter, so I was suspicious of that man. I said we follow protocol if it’s to do with UNZA because they were not my bosses. By that time, I didn’t know he was a police officer. I showed them my supervisor’s office and they left.”

Mbozi said on October 9, 2020 at 8:00 hours, chief security officer Bwalya Kalebaila, Steven Mumba a police officer, and a junior officer banged in his office and requested that he accompanied them to their office for reasons that he was accused of sexual harassment.

Mbozi said he noticed that Mumba had handcuffs and asked him if he was a police officer.

He said Mumba confirmed being a police officer and that later prompted Mbozi not to respond to his questions because he could not deal with the police without his lawyer.

He said Kalebai threatened him that he would be fired if he did not cooperate.

“I told them the person (victim) was not a student and provoked the officer for saying I would be fired when he was just a guard. Steven Mumba handcuffed me and drove me to Chudleigh police post. I gave him a note to give my wife but he didn’t. The officer in charge said there was no record for my detention and the police post was not a normal holding cell and I was taken to Chelstone police station,” said Mbozi. “There was no kind of touching, no one touched her. I didn’t touch her (victim), I didn’t lock the door. It is an automatic door; it locks itself, you don’t need a key when you are inside. That lady, I felt sorry for her, I wanted to help her.”

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