A 39-year-old woman in Kasungu is in police custody for keeping the dead body of her one-month old baby in her house for several days.
According to Kasungu police public relations officer Joseph Kachikho, the suspect has been identified as Grace Nasala Chimbewa who was staying at Kasalika a township in Kasungu municipality.
Kachikho said it is reported that whilst at her house, Chimbewa on September 13 this year gave birth to a baby girl.
In the second week of October, the baby got sick but the suspect never took her to any hospital for medical attention until on October 15 when the baby died but she never told anyone.
In a police statement, Kachikho further reported that each time neighbours sought to see the baby, the mother sent them back by saying the child was sleeping a development that made the neighbours suspicious.
On Wednesday, October 20, some local leaders forced her to reveal the whereabouts of the baby but she never did, a thing that forced them to forcefully make their way into the house and only to find the baby dead and in a decomposed state.
“The baby got sick but the suspect never bothered to take her to any hospital for medical attention. The baby died on 15, October 2021. Again, she just kept it to herself,” said Kachikho.
Grace Nasala Chimbewa hails from Chamasowa Village in the area of Traditional Authority Chimaliro in Thyolo District.
Police say she will very soon appear before court to answer charges of abandonment of a child.
