ZEERUST – A 21-year-old woman is expected to appear in the Lehurutshe Magistrate’s Court near Zeerust on Monday in connection with the attempted murder of her newborn baby, North West police said.
The suspect’s court appearance comes after she was charged on Saturday for allegedly attempting to kill her three-day-old baby boy, Lt-Col Amanda Funani said on Sunday.
“According to information available at this stage, it appears that the woman, whom the family did not know that she was pregnant, delivered a baby boy without assistance of any person and then threw the newborn into a pit toilet on Thursday, 4 January 2018 at Dinokana village, Lehurutshe.”
The baby was discovered by the woman’s cousin after she saw blood on the toilet floor. While still shocked, she heard the baby crying from the pit toilet and called her sister and the neighbours.
The police and Emergency Medical and Rescue Services (EMRS) were summoned to the scene where the newborn baby was rescued. The mother and the baby were taken to hospital for medical examination.
After being under police guard since Thursday, the mother was discharged from the hospital on Saturday, Funani said.
North West police commissioner Lt-Gen Baile Motswenyane condemned the incident.
She also commended the police and emergency services personnel for working together to preserve life by removing the baby alive from the pit toilet.
