A Harare woman got married while she was already five months pregnant with another man’s child before killing the newly born baby in a bid to save the marriage, a court heard yesterday.
Grace Mukwena (23) of 2777 Domboramwari, Epworth, secretly gave birth in a toilet while her husband was sleeping and strangled the baby girl to death, it is alleged.
She initially appeared in court on Saturday facing infanticide charges and was remanded in custody to yesterday for bail ruling.
Mukwena was back in court yesterday and appeared before magistrate Ms Tilda Mazhande who granted her $50 bail.
As part of her bail conditions, she was ordered to report once a week to the police, not to interfere with witnesses and continue residing at the given address until finalisation of the matter. She will be back in court on May 15.
It is the State’s case that Mukwena was impregnated by her then boyfriend Taurai Chidza, who lives in Mutare, before they parted ways when she was five months’ pregnant. She later got married to Proud Tole.
In a bid to save her marriage, Mukwena, the court heard, did not disclose to her husband that she was already pregnant. Four months into the marriage, on April 27 at around 3am, she went into labour while she was sleeping with her husband.
Mukwena quickly went out of the house and proceeded to the toilet on the pretext she wanted to relieve herself. Tole remained in bed.
Prosecutor Ms Linda Gadzikwa alleged that Mukwena gave birth to a baby girl in the toilet and immediately strangled her to death.
Upon noticing that his wife had taken long to return from the toilet, Tole decided to check on her and went to the toilet. He got the shock of his life when he saw his wife standing next to the lifeless body of a newly born child.
It is alleged that Tole rushed to their neighbour’s house and alerted them. One of the female neighbours wrapped the body in a cloth and rushed to Epworth Polyclinic together with Mukwena.
The sister-in-charge at the clinic confirmed that the baby was dead. The sister-in-charge then called the police after noticing that the baby had some bruises on the neck and was bleeding from the nose and mouth. Herald
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