Neno woman gets 3 years for baby dumping

Neno Second Grade Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday convicted and sentenced Velibesi Chigwale,26, to three years and four months imprisonment with hard labour (IHL) for dumping a new-born baby and concealing birth contrary to Section 232 of the Penal Code.

Neno Police Station spokesperson Raphael Kaliati said Chigwale, who comes from Nseula Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Dambe in Neno, in mitigation asked the court for leniency because she has two children who would lack parental care if she were sentenced to a long prison term.

However, second grade magistrate Daniel Dzowela said baby dumping cases have become common and gave her a prison term sentence to deter other would-be offenders.

Chigwale has since been taken to Chichiri Central Prison to serve her sentence.

Cases of child dumping have been on the rise in the country in recent months.

This year alone, The Nation has already reported five such cases, the latest being in our yesterday’s edition where a Lilongwe woman was sentenced to two years imprisonment with hard labour (IHL) for concealing birth.

The most common reason behind child dumping from the cases The Nation has learnt, is young ladies becoming pregnant when they were not ready and resorting to dumping babies to conceal child birth from community,family, boyfriends or husbands who are outside the country.

Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disabilities and Social Welfare Mary Shaba said in an interview on Wednesday that young girls should avoid unprotected sex when they are not ready for motherhood.