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Woman burns newborn baby

by Staff Reportewr
17 Jul 2013 at 21:39hrs | Views
A 29-YEAR-OLD woman from Sadza in Mashonaland East province last week allegedly threw her newly born baby in a kitchen hut and set it ablaze in a bid to conceal the baby's death, police have said.

Evelyn Madzima of Dekera homestead in Muzhanje Village under Chief Neshangwe was arrested for contravening Section 48 of the Criminal Law

Codification chapter 9.23 that deals with infanticide. Mashonaland East police spokesperson Inspector Bulisani Bhebhe confirmed the incident saying investigations into the matter were in progress.

We arrested Madzima who threw her new born baby through the window into a hut and set it ablaze. Our preliminary investigations revealed that she did this in order to conceal the baby's death. Investigations are under way to establish what really transpired, he said.

It is alleged that on July 12, Madzima who was employed as a housemaid by Godfrey Dekera (35) gave birth to a baby boy whom she threw into a kitchen hut through the window and set it ablaze.

It is reported that the foetus's body was discovered the following day by Tafadzwa Dekera (13) who went into the hut to retrieve his ball. She was found burying the foetus in the mountain by a member of the neighbourhood watch committee who was patrolling the area and was immediately arrested. Sadza police attended the scene and took the baby's body to Chivhu General Hospital mortuary for postmortem.

Source - Herald