The ManicaPost
Luthando Mapepa
Chipinge Correspondent
A 20-YEAR-OLD Chipinge woman who dumped her newly born baby boy in a Blair toilet survived incarceration after getting a wholly suspended jail term.
Florence Magwenzi (20), who works as a domestic worker at the Pindeni homestead in Gumira Village under Chief Musikavanhu’s area, recently appeared before Chipinge magistrate, Mr Alfred Chinembiri.
She was facing charges of exposing an infant as defined in Section 108(1) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
She pleaded guilty to the offense.
Asked about why she committed the offence, Magwenzi said she was not sure about the baby’s paternity.
She said she did not intend to kill the baby as she wanted to take it to her family.
“I am pleading for lenience from this court. I was not sure who impregnated me, so I decided to hide the baby since the pregnancy was not known by my employers,” she said.
Prosecuting, Mrs Chipo Matanga said on March 16, Magwenzi who was eight months pregnant, delivered a baby boy in her bedroom.
“She did not inform anyone, including her employer, about the birth. After delivering the baby, she rushed with it to the toilet. She covered the baby with her clothes and dumped it in the toilet pit.
“On the same day, her employer’s daughter, Miss Siphelani Pindeni, heard a baby crying when she visited the toilet. Miss Pindeni informed her grandmother, Mrs Betty Mlambo, who rushed to the scene.
“Mrs Mlambo interrogated Magwenzi and she professed ignorance over the matter. She later confessed after Mrs Mlambo threatened to report the matter to the police. Mrs Mlambo notified other villagers and they helped to retrieve the baby,” said Mrs Matanga.
Fortunately the baby was still alive.
The matter was reported to the police, thereby leading to Magwenzi’s arrest.
Mr Chinembiri slapped Magwenzi with a wholly suspended six months jail term on condition that she does commit a similar offence in the next five years.
