Mom in court for child’s death

LIMPOPO – THE bail application of a woman from Mulodi village near Mutale who is accused of killing her own child was postponed by the Mutale magistrate’s court to March 5 on Monday.

Lutendo Khorommbi (32) appeared briefly before court and will remain in custody until her next court appearance.

Mutale police spokesperson WO Tshilidzi Nyambeni said on Monday, the Mutale magistrate’s court was filled to capacity by people from Mulodi and Thengwe, and some angry people were chanting outside the court demanding that Khorommbi not be granted bail.

Khorommbi was arrested in January after she claimed that her child, Sancy, had disappeared from her bed while she was busy in the outside toilet.

“The accused opened a missing child docket with us on January 21 after she claimed that her three-year-old daughter had gone missing from her house at Mulodi village,” Nyambeni said.

He said a search started immediately, and the body of the child was found about 500m away from Khorommbi’s home the following morning at around 11:30.

She had an open wound on the left side of her forehead.

“Following questions from our investigators, Khorommbi claimed that, on January 22, the child had died after she had slapped her in the face and she had fallen to the floor. She claimed that she was emotional when she slapped the child after she found her younger child, a six-month-old baby, crying on the floor next to where Sancy was sleeping. When she asked Sancy why the baby was crying, Sancy could not answer her,” Nyambeni said.

“Khorommbi told us that she had decided to dump Sancy’s body after she failed to resuscitate her,” Nyambeni said.