Sisters strangle newborn babies, dump them in Blair toilet

TWO siblings in Tokwana, Bulilima district who concealed birth, strangled their newborn babies and then dumped them in a pit latrine of a secondary school, Matabeleland South police said yesterday.

Police, helped by villagers on Sunday dug up the bodies of the two infants born on December 17 and January 7.

Officers retrieved two tiny bodies - one wrapped in a plastic bag and another covered in a blood-stained cloth and newspaper.

Prosecutors in Plumtree are preparing to charge Lumbidzani Nleya, 23, and Batanani Nleya, 21, with concealment of birth and dumping babies.

Lumbidzani told investigators that she gave birth prematurely on December 17 and threw the stillborn baby's remains down a Blair toilet at Tokwana Secondary School, with the help of her elder sister, who lives in Gwanda.

It is also alleged that she also assisted her younger sister, Batanani to dispose of her baby as well a few weeks later.

Batanani, meanwhile, has also told investigators that she gave birth prematurely on January 7 at around 10AM and draped it in a plastic bag.

"Batanani said she surrendered the baby to Lumbidzani who told her that she had disposed of her own baby at the school toilets. She said Lumbidzani dumped her baby at around 8PM on the same day," a police source said.

Inspector Philisani Ndebele of Matabeleland South police said last night: "We're investigating a case of two female adults from Tokwana area in Bulilima District who gave birth and disposed of the bodies in a latrine at a local school.

"They have been arrested and are assisting the police with investigations."