Woman gives birth to 'baboon'

A young couple's dreams of parenthood turned into a nightmare after they gave birth to a creature-like baby resembling a baboon recently.

The incident which occurred last week in the village of Tarangana-Chomukuyu under Chief Chireya left villagers awe struck.

Chief Chireya of Gokwe North, confirmed the strange incident to this paper yesterday.

He said it was the first such incident to occur in his land.

"This is our first time to experience such a bizarre incident in my area. I used to hear such strange things happening from distant land and would dismiss them as fairytales. My people are in a state of shock after witnessing the strange incident first hand," said Chief Chireya.

He said the unfortunate couple approached him with their two-faced ‘baby' last week. Chief Chireya said the strange "baby" was born outside hospital at the couple's homestead.

"The baby died after a week. The couple had approached me with their strange baby and presented their case before me. They felt the situation was too gravy for them to handle. I only learnt of the incident when the couple came to me to make a report. They came with the baby as an exhibit, The baby passed away sometime this week" he said.

However, the chief was reluctant to reveal the couple's names.

The traditional leader said he suspected the strange baby to be a result of witchcraft. He said witchcraft was a common phenomenon in his area.

"The case of the baboon faced baby is one of the many cases of witchcraft that we are dealing with at my traditional court. Many such cases have been brought before me where individuals accuse each other of witchcraft. Some even openly admit to the charge and this is quite disturbing," said Chief Chireya.

Chief Chireya said he has since sought the assistance of traditional healers to help him unravel the strange birth. He said he also wanted the traditional healers to cleanse the land and rid his people of their evil practice.

"We have called upon traditional healers from within and without our area to come and help by pin-pointing the culprits behind this and other such cases. They should help cleanse our land," said Chief Chireya.

Effort to get in touch with affected couple were fruitless.