Lusaka | January 23, 2026 – The state closed its case in the John Nundwe trial yesterday with a final witness whose testimony aimed to dismantle deep-seated societal myths about sexual assault victims. Dr. Naeem Dalal, a mental health specialist, provided the court with a scientific explanation for a victim’s potential lack of physical resistance, a point often scrutinised in such cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Dalal informed the court that the common assumption that a victim will always fight back is medically unfounded. He detailed the three instinctive, biological responses to extreme trauma: fight, flight, or freeze. His testimony focused extensively on the freeze response, describing a specific phenomenon known as tonic immobility. This involuntary state, he explained, is a primal survival mechanism where the body becomes paralyzed, essentially playing dead in the face of an overwhelming threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The psychiatrist further clarified that this frozen state can impact a victim’s memory of the traumatic event and may result in a lack of visible physical injury, which often contradicts public expectation. This expert context is considered crucial for the court’s understanding as it evaluates the evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The prosecution, having presented ten witnesses since the trial began in July 2024, formally rested its case following this testimony. The matter is now adjourned for a pivotal ruling. The magistrate must determine if the state has presented sufficient evidence to establish a prima facie case, meaning whether the proof is strong enough to legally require John Nundwe to present a defence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The National Prosecution Authority reaffirmed its commitment to prosecuting gender-based violence with a modern understanding of victim trauma, combining factual evidence with expert psychological insight. The nation now awaits the court’s next decision, which will dictate whether the trial proceeds to a defence or concludes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow our official social media pages for further updates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lusaka | January 23, 2026 – The state closed its case in the John Nundwe trial yesterday with a final witness whose testimony aimed to dismantle deep-seated societal myths about sexual assault victims. Dr. Naeem Dalal, a mental health specialist, provided the court with a scientific explanation for a victim’s potential lack of physical resistance, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":5600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"table_tags":[],"class_list":["post-5599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5599"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5601,"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5599\/revisions\/5601"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5599"},{"taxonomy":"table_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.npa.gov.zm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/table_tags?post=5599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}