FAITH NDOU
BIKITA-Barely a week after another newly born baby was retrieved from a pit latrine by villagers in Hauna, police are investigating two separate cases involving dumped infants.
One of the incidents happened in Bikita where a baby was rescued alive from a blair toilet and another in Mwenezi where a dumped infant was found dead.
In the first incident, an infant estimated to be between five and seven days old was rescued on 21 June at around 1030 hours at Chikuku Business Centre in Bikita.
Irvine Mutingwende (38), who resides at Magerege Shops, was going to use a council blair toilet when she heard a baby crying from an adjacent toilet.
Upon checking, she reportedly noticed a pair of infant socks outside the toilet hole and realised the crying was coming from inside the pit.
She reported the matter to Chikuku Police Base and members of the community later worked together to retrieve the infant.
The baby was taken to Chikuku Medical Clinic for care and safe keeping.
Confirming the incident, ZRP Masvingo Provincial Spokesperson Inspector Kudakwashe Dhewa said investigations are underway and appealed to members of the public with information that may assist in identifying the mother of the infant to report to the nearest police station.
In another related incident in Mwenezi, a 38-year-old man reportedly discovered the body of an abandoned infant boy while walking home from work.
Police reports indicate that after walking about 500 metres from the compound, the man entered a nearby sugarcane estate to collect sugarcane and discovered the infant lying lifeless.
The matter was reported to the police and preliminary observations indicated that the body had severe damages believed to have occurred after being exposed in the open.
Police investigations into both cases are continuing.
