Jealous man ‘buried baby alive’

By Auxilia Katongomara

A DAY-OLD baby was BURIED ALIVE after a Fort Rixon man claimed his wife had been impregnated by another man, a court heard yesterday.

Andrew Mhodi, 39, of Village 2 in Pioneer, abandoned his wife and five children in Chinhoyi in 2010 and did not communicate with them for three years.

He returned last year to find his wife pregnant and reportedly assured her he was not bothered by the pregnancy.

But Mhodi changed his stance with chilling cruelty by burying the infant alive in a shallow pit a day after his wife gave birth, the Bulawayo High Court heard.

His wife, Deliwe Tsikai, was screaming uncontrollably as Mhodi killed the baby, Justice Martin Makonese was told.

Yesterday, Tsikai took to the witness stand to accuse her husband of the April 7, 2013, murder.

She told the court that she watched in terror and grief as her husband buried her baby in a 50cm pit on a stream bank.

Fighting back tears, she told court: “My husband left home for Fort Rixon where he said he was going to look for a job. He never returned or communicated with me for almost three years and upon his return last year, he found me heavily pregnant.

“He convinced me that he had no problem with my pregnancy and indicated that he wanted us to go to Fort Rixon to get our children’s birth certificates and my identity card.”

She said they proceeded to Fort Rixon and lived happily until the day she gave birth to a baby boy, two weeks after their arrival.

“I gave birth on my own on Saturday, April 7, 2013, at around 3AM. Shortly after 9AM, he told me he hated the new-born baby. After that, he armed himself with a pick and shovel and forced me to accompany him to a nearby bush where upon arrival, he began to dig a pit.”

She told the court that as he dug, he instructed her to sit down and she complied.

“Soon after he had finished digging the grave, he forcibly took the baby and buried it alive. I was crying but there was no-one who could hear or assist me since we were very far away from the homesteads,” said Tsikai.

She said he then force-marched her back home and warned her against being impregnated by another man again.

She told the court that she fled home with her two daughters and filed a police report at Murekerera Police Station in Chinhoyi, Mashonaland West. Fort Rixon police moved swiftly and arrested Mhodi.

Mhodi, through his lawyer, Hlabezulu Malinga, denies murder.

“My client will tell this court that she gave birth to a still-born baby and she is the one who asked my client to accompany her to the bush to bury it,” said Malinga.

The trial continues today. Chronicle