A married 22-year-old Chivi woman allegedly strangled her one-day-old baby before throwing it into a blair toilet to conceal her adulterous relationship, police said.
Emily Munyaradzi of Charimangwe Village under Headman Chipindura had been invited to South Africa by her husband who did not know that she was carrying someone else’s baby.
Masvingo police spokesperson, Inspector Charity Mazula said the incident occurred last Saturday at around 3PM.
She said Emily was arrested and is assisting police with investigations.
“I can confirm receiving a report of infanticide where a Chivi woman strangled and threw her day-old baby into a blair toilet. The suspect is assisting police with investigations and is expected to appear in court facing charges of infanticide,” said Insp Mazula.
She said Emily left home at around 5PM for Sese Business Centre in the same village with her baby, on the pretext that she wanted to buy sugar.
Insp Mazula said while on the way, Emily met her uncle, Tedius Ngome, 34, and the two exchanged greetings.
“At around 6PM, Emily got into a blair toilet at the business centre where she allegedly strangled the baby before throwing its body into the squatting hole. At around 7 PM, Emily was seen by Ngome who asked her where she had left the baby,” she said.
Police said when Emily failed to give a satisfactory answer, Ngome became suspicious and phoned Emily’s father, Gwasengwa Munyaradzi, 56. He told Munyaradzi that his daughter had lost her baby.
Insp Mazula said Munyaradzi then rushed to Sese Business Centre where he confronted Emily threatening to assault her unless she revealed where the child was.
“Emily then revealed that she had strangled the baby before throwing it into a blair toilet. Munyaradzi then teamed up with other villagers and went to the toilet where they dug a hole beside the blair toilet and retrieved the body,” she said.
A villager, Marry Chimukwiti, alleged that Emily could have killed the baby to conceal her illicit affair from her husband who is based in South Africa.
She said the husband had invited Emily to South Africa.
“Before she killed her baby, Emily had been invited to South Africa by her husband. The two were married in 2013 but Emily remained at her parents’ home as the husband wanted to secure employment in that country. While Emily was at her parents’ home, she engaged in an adulterous affair with a local man and fell pregnant,” said Chimukwiti.
The body was then taken to Chivi District Hospital mortuary for post-mortem.