Mother beats, ‘kills’ 3-month baby for crying

Wilbrought Ndlovu, Sunday News Reporter

A 31-YEAR-OLD woman from Insuza in Matabeleland North Province has been arrested for infanticide after she allegedly fatally beat her three months old daughter with a cooking stick for crying.

The incident took place after the baby started crying around 4am which resulted in the mother, Alice Ncube (31), allegedly hitting her with a cooking stick. In an interview with Sunday News Matabeleland North spokesperson Inspector Glory Banda confirmed the arrest of Ncube.

“The incident took place on 20 November around 4am, the baby started crying and when the mother woke up she began hitting the child using a cooking stick on the head several times. The baby was three months old. The father of the baby, woke up and took the baby, held her in his arms only to discover that she was already dead,” he said.

Insp Banda further appealed to members of the public, parents and guardians to consider the rights of children.

“We appeal to parents and guardians on children’s rights, they are also humans, so we must uphold their rights. We don’t have to abuse them and to family members if we know that someone is mentally challenged we must take the initiative to take them to rehabilitation centres like psychiatric hospitals so that they could be helped. Investigations are in progress,” he said.