By Thupeyo Muleya and Selah Gowero
A 24-YEAR-OLD Beitbridge man has been arrested for allegedly choking his 10-month-old son and bashing his head against a wall after the infant’s cries at night woke him from his sleep.
Webmore Mbedzi from the Malala area under Chief Stauze is now facing attempted murder charges.
Mbedzi was not asked to plead to the charges, which carry a custodial sentence in the event of a conviction, when he appeared before Beitbridge magistrate Miss Gloria Takundwa on Thursday.
He has been remanded in custody to October 20, with the magistrate advising the accused to apply for bail at the High Court.
It is the State’s case that on September 11 this year, Mbedzi was sleeping in his bedroom hut together with his wife and their 10-month-old son.
It is alleged that sometime during the night — as babies are wont to do — the boy began crying and the noise reportedly annoyed the sleeping Mbedzi who also woke up.
The State says the man grabbed the baby by the legs and dangled him in the air for a few seconds before dropping the infant headlong to the floor.
The prosecution alleges that Mbedzi then picked up his son by the throat and while choking him, banged his head against the wall.
The baby was saved from further harm by his mother who wrestled with Mbedzi and snatched her son from him, the court heard.
She left the homestead and went to make a police report that led to Mbedzi’s arrest that same night.
Meanwhile, a Harare woman has been convicted of secretly burying her new-born baby in a pit on the banks of Mazowe River.
Margaret Mulungu (26) was supposed to be sentenced yesterday, but the magistrate Mr Munamato Mutevedzi deferred the matter to Monday.
Mulungu pleaded guilty and was remanded in custody.
She, however, denied that she had killed the child and escaped the infanticide charge because when the body was discovered, it was so decomposed that the cause of death could not be easily ascertained.
Mulungu, a mother of three, lived at Jerera Farm, Nowdale in Harare.
She gave birth to a boy on September 13 at around 4am.
Mulungu said the baby accidentally fell immediately after delivery and died a few minutes later.
Mulungu then travelled a distance of about 1km to the Mazowe River, dug a pit by the bank and buried the body.
The matter came to light 10 days later when Edward Mutandagai, Mulungu’s ex-husband, noticed that the recently pregnant woman did not have a child.
He alerted January Julius, a member of the neighbourhood watch committee.
Julius interrogated Mulungu and she confessed to giving birth to a full-term baby who died soon afterwards and whom she secretly buried.
The body was exhumed and taken to Parirenyatwa Hospital for a post-mortem but the results were inconclusive.
publisher, The Herald 09 October 2010
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