Chronicle Editor
Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
A FIVE-YEAR-OLD girl from Siabuwa in Binga drowned in a two-metre deep pit behind her grandmother’s bedroom hut.
The family in Matabele 2 Village in Sinansengwe area dug the pit last year intending to build a pit latrine and left it uncovered.
The pit was filled with water from incessant rains.
While Matabeleland North police spokeperson Inspector Glory Banda could not comment on the incident, Chief Sinansengwe said he was aware of it, although he could not give details.
“I was told about the incident that happened in Matabele Village but I am yet to get fuller details,” he said.
The deceased girl has been identified as Faith Munkuli and her mother Ms Rushel Sinori (22) had left her alone at home as she went to work in the fields on Monday.
The girl allegedly went to play at her grandmother Ms Saliya Muleya’s homestead about 200 metres away where she later drowned.
Her lifeless body was seen floating on Tuesday morning after a futile search for her the previous night.
The Chronicle was told that Ms Sinori left home at 9am going to the fields on Monday, leaving the child at home.
The little girl allegedly proceeded to her grandmother’s homestead where she played with two other children of her age.
Her mother could not locate her when she returned in the evening resulting in a search.
It is not clear if Ms Muleya checked the girl’s whereabouts during the day before the return of Ms Sinori.
She and the grandmother looked for the tot but failed to locate her. They abandoned the search because of darkness and resumed in the morning when they were joined by neighbours.
The little girl’s lifeless body was found floating on water in an unprotected pit just 30 metres from her grandmother’s bedroom hut.
Police who attended the scene and retrieved the body, discovered that the pit was about two metres deep and not protected, a source said.
Binga magistrate Mr Urgent Vundla waived post-mortem because no foul play was suspected. — @ncubeleon
Online Reporter