Malawian woman arrested for killing own child

Police at Nthalire in Chitipa are keeping in custody a 20 year-old woman for allegedly killing her own child.

 She has been identified as Mphatso Kaonga from Lwayo village T/A Nthalire in the district.

According to Chitipa Police Station Public Relations Officer, Gladwell Simwaka,  the suspect had a one year and nine months old baby girl who was periodically sick.

On December 21, 2020, she left home (Mahowe) for Nthalire trading centre with her baby.

On the way it is believed that she killed the baby by suffocating her with a piece of cloth and threw her body in a toilet, Simwaka says.

 When she returned to her home village after some days, she was cornered of the missing child.

After more pestering, she revealed the ordeal. The matter was reported to police and the scene was visited by the police and the health personnel from Nthalire.

The body was found in a decomposed state.

It is alleged that she killed the baby because she was tired with her frequent illnesses.

She will appear in court soon to answer murder charges.

Maneno Chimulala

I am a journalist, educator, and activist with passion for telling stories about social justice, sports and political issues. I graduated from Mzuzu University. I started my career at the Maravi Post online publication in 2012 as an intern while in college. Upon graduating from Mzuzu University I was offered a job as Sports Reporter because of my background as a goalkeeper and rose to the position of sub editor. I also had a short stint with Nyasatimes, Malawi Punch and Malawi Digest. Over the past seven years, I have worked intimately with rural organizations and communities in Malawi on human rights, girl child education and grassroots development projects. With an academic background in education, I also volunteer as male champion for girls’ education under Girls Empowerment Networks (GENET) in Malawi’s South West Education Division (SWED).