Woman kills and dumps newborn
By Richard Muponde
A 31-year-old woman from Masendu area allegedly gave birth to a baby girl before suffocating the infant in a plastic carrier bag and dumping the body in a disused toilet.
Khumalo of Nopemano village under chief Masendu was yesterday convicted on her own plea of guilty to infanticide when she appeared before Plumtree resident magistrate, Miss Sharon Rosemani.
She was remanded in custody to Friday for sentencing.
In her statement Khumalo said she killed the baby as she had no means of taking care of the child as her boyfriend had denied responsibility.
Prosecuting, Mr Zorodzai Pengapenga told the court that on October 26 around 11PM, Khumalo gave birth at a homestead where she is the caretaker.
She placed her in a plastic carrier bag which she kept in her room.
The baby suffocated and died at about 4AM on the following day.
Khumalo took the plastic bag containing the body of the infant and went to an abandoned homestead about 1.5 kilometres from her homestead.
She threw the plastic bag in a disused toilet.
On Monday this week, when she went to participate in a community programme, other villagers noticed that she was no longer pregnant and had no baby.
They quizzed her and she divulged the offence.
Khumalo led them to the place where she had dumped the infant’s body.
The matter was reported to the police, leading to her arrest and the body was retrieved and taken to Plumtree District Hospital for postmortem. The Chronicle.
