40-year-old woman in custody for concealing birth
Police at Lumbadzi in Lilongwe on Sunday arrested 40-year-old Sofileti Mdzibwa Mwambakulu Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Chitukula in Lilongwe on allegations that she concealed birth contrary to Section 232 of the Penal Code.
Kamuzu International Airport (KIA) Police spokesperson Sapulain Chitonde Lee said the suspect has been married to Gifton Mdzibwa from the same village for over 15 years and they have six children.
He said Mdzibwa’s youngest child was just a year old when she became pregnant again.
Said Chitonde Lee: “When the suspect went into labour, she delivered a baby on September 25 at around 12 noon and dumped it in a pit latrine without the knowledge of her husband who was away at the time.”
He said when her husband returned home, she reportedly told him that she had miscarried and that he had dumped the baby in their pit latrine.
Police said the shocked husband informed the area’s chief and Lumbadzi Police who rushed to the scene and dug the pit latrine where the body of a baby girl was recovered.
The police spokesperson said the suspect insisted she delivered a baby the size of a lizard, hence, she thought of dumping it in the pit latrine.
“However, results from M’bang’ombe Health Centre indicate that death was due to suffocation and [that] the baby was alive and matured when she was delivered,” said Chitonde Lee. n
