Dogs feast on baby

Auxilia Katongomara Chronicle Reporter
A TSHOLOTSHO woman recently woke up to the grisly sight of dogs fighting over limbs of a stillborn baby. Investigations revealed that a woman who had a stillbirth dug a shallow grave and buried the baby behind her hut in a bid to conceal the incident from her family. The woman, Sibonokuhle Tshuma, 29, of Maqethuka village under Chief Tategulu, dug and buried the baby behind her hut before making a fire on top of the grave.
Tshuma was arrested after her mother-in-law Ntombizodwa Ncube noticed two dogs fighting over the baby’s left thigh.

This was heard when Tshuma appeared before Tsholotsho provincial magistrate Abednico Ndebele charged with concealing the birth of a child.
She pleaded guilty.

Prosecuting, Sikhumbuzo Sibanda told the court that on September 24, Tshuma gave birth to a still born baby at 5PM at home.
She was alone at the time.

“She spent the night with the baby’s body and the following morning at 5AM, she dug a shallow grave behind her bedroom hut and buried it,” said Sibanda.
The prosecutor told the court that after burying the baby, Tshuma made a fire on top of the grave to cover up the freshly dug earth.

“ Six days later, her mother-in-law noticed that she was no longer pregnant and asked what had happened to the baby. She then ordered that Tshuma go to Mpanedziba clinic for examination where it was confirmed that she had actually given birth,” said Sibanda.

The court heard that her mother-in-law later saw some dogs fighting at the back of the hut and upon checking, she discovered that the dogs were eating the body of the child.

“When she moved closer, she noticed that they were fighting over the baby’s left thigh and she also noted that it was a baby girl,” the prosecutor said.
The mother-in-law notified villagers who had accompanied Tshuma to the clinic leading to her arrest.
A medical report produced in court showed that the baby was still born.

In passing sentence, magistrate Ndebele considered that she was a mother of three whose husband is in South Africa and was therefore not suitable for a custodial sentence.

She was given a suspended sentence.