Poison-laced porridge kills four-year-old child

By Fungai Lupande

HARARE – A four-year-old girl died in Mufakose, Harare, yesterday after eating porridge laced with poison that the maid mistook for brown sugar.

The maid was at the time of writing reportedly in critical condition after she also ate the porridge.

The mother of the baby, who ate a spoonful of the porridge, was taken to hospital.

When journalists visited the home at Number 64 Mukumbadzetse, an eyewitness narrated the ordeal.

“The maid is critically-ill after eating the porridge. It was around 7am when the maid prepared porridge.

“The mother started beating the child, forcing her to eat because most of the time she had eating problems,” he said.

The witness said the mother ate a spoonful of the porridge.

However, the girl’s condition deteriorated fast and she could not stand on her own.

At that juncture, the maid ate the porridge and immediately fell ill.

In a frantic effort to resuscitate the child, the mother gave her milk and she died 30 minutes later.

The maid was rushed to hospital and is said to be in a critical condition.

A neighbour who spoke on condition of anonymity said the pesticide looks like brown sugar.

“After the mother bought the pesticide, it was placed on the table and the maid, who had no idea what it was, used it while cooking porridge.

“These people (pesticide vendors) have to be arrested. They move around with megaphones with unlabelled pesticides which they sell for a dollar.

“They place poison in brown sugar to attract flies but poison should not look like food,” he said.

Police spokesperson Chief Superintended Paul Nyati and the parents of the toddler could not be reached for comment yesterday. The Herald