Miracle as dumped baby spends 40hrs standing in church toilet pit

ASHER MOYO

CHIPINGE-Villagers in Chisumbanje were left speechless as a baby who was dumped in a church toilet pit with faeces spent 40 hours while standing on his feet until he was retrieved by good Samaritans.

Police in Chisumbanje have arrested a 21 year old woman who dumped and made her 1 and half year old baby to spent 40 hours standing in a church toilet pit with faeces.

A medical doctor who could not be named for professional reasons said it is possible for a person to stay for 72 hours without food, but there is need for the baby to undergo tests and get antibiotics for possible infection.

Ward 21 councilor Raphias Semwayo who told The Midweek Watch the story last week confirmed the arrest of Ruth Ndlovu Welemu of Mberengwa.

One Rimbi resident and good Samaritan who helped to retrieve the dumped baby, Christopher Mtetwa (pictured above) narrated how Ndlovu was arrested by members of the community.

The baby was discovered by a passerby on Thursday last week at around 7am after spending 40 hours in the pit latrine.

 She then alerted her neighbour and the two women rushed to the shops where they told other community members. The men swiftly reacted and rushed to the scene where they dug a hole and tied a rope on one of the young man’s waist who went down the three metre deep toilet pit.

The baby was retrieved after 30 minutes of digging and pulling.

Mtetwa said they took the child to the market place where he was identified by two elderly women.

“We went with the baby at the market where there were a lot of people. There were some women from Tuzuka Village who identified the baby.

 “They called him by his name and the baby showed that that is his name. He was identified as Tinashe. The women said the mother of the baby was working at a tuckshop at Kambanje homestead.

We got her cellphone number and called her, she was in the company of her boyfriend who had promised to marry her. We then told the people there to keep her so that she won’t run away.

“We looked for transport to go and get her.  She was arrested by members of the community. The Department of Social Welfare was also present. Police also attended the scene and took her to Chisumbanje police station,” he said.

“Upon being questioned, Ndlovu confessed that she threw the baby at 11am on Tuesday. She said she did that because she wanted to get married and the father of the child was denying responsibility.

“Her boyfriend (pictured in red pants) also gave his side of the story. The man said he had told her that he did not mind to stay with baby since the father was denying responsibility, but she refused and said she was taking the baby to her grandmother. The man said they discussed the matter on Monday and on Tuesday she said she was taking the baby to her grandmother,” narrated Mtetwa.

It is said that the man heard about the matter on social media and he identified the baby as his girlfriend’s.

Councilor Semwayo said the child is now in the hands of social welfare while the mother is detained at Chisumbanje Police Station.

Manicaland Provincial Police Spokesperson, Inspector Nobert Muzondo could not be reached for comment as his mobile phone was going unanswered.