Month-old baby found dead

BHUGA – A couple has been arrested in connection with the murder of their own
month-old baby girl whom they allegedly buried in a shallow grave next to a
stream between Half-way and Bhuga.
The 27-year-old mother and the child’s

30-year-old father who had recently relocated to the area, had shocked the
entire community.
It is alleged that the father had held the baby by the
legs and hit her head against the wall. Blood stains were also found on the
scene.
According to victim’s great-grandmother, Gogo Ntombi Ngwenyama, who
has made it her duty to check on the parents and the baby every day, as the
mother suffered from epilepsy, she was surprised when she didn’t find the child
at home on Wednesday morning and was allegedly told that they had taken her away
to relatives in Pienaar.
“After questioning on how they could leave a small
baby without the mother, the father became arrogant and told me not to panic
because the child was fine without them. I got worried when they started to cry
bitterly,” she said.
She added that when she questioned the mother, her
husband said she was tired and worried about her deteriorating health.
A
suspicious Ngwenyama left the couple at their home and decided to consult with
the local police to check on the parent’s story. She and the police went to the
house where the father jumped out of a window and ran away. The police took the
mother in for questioning.
It is alleged that the woman at first told them
many versions but later confessed that the baby died after being hit against the
wall by the father. She also led the police to where they had buried the child.

The body was exhumed on Thursday morning and the father was arrested on the
same day.
The couple appeared in the KaBokweni Magistrate’s Court on October
4 on charges of murder and will appear again on
October 10. Ngwenyama said
she would like to see her grandson rot in jail because he was a killer and did
not want to see him again. “He has hurt me so much that I would not even mind if
he stays in jail for the rest of his life,” she concluded.