By: Hendrina Kanyolo
A community leader from Hakahana informal settlement discovered a frozen newborn baby, placed in an ice cream tub and dumped in a wheelie bin yesterday morning. The community leader made the gruesome discovery around 08h00 in the morning while throwing trash in the bin.
According to the police, the community leader became suspicious and looked inside a melting 2 litre ice cream tub, where he found a frozen infant. The incident happened along Edimba street, where it is believed that the 32-year-old mother gave birth without her family's knowledge.
The Khomas police spokesperson Silas Shipandeni told Todayon One, the suspect has been suicidal and was recently taken by a relative to the Ministry of Gender Equality , Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare for counselling.
According to Shipandeni, the suspect who was admitted at the mental hospital under police guard has been released. Shipandeni said the suspect is arrested and detained at the Klein Windhoek Police station and expected to appear in the Katutura Magistrate’s court tomorrow.
‘’The incident was confirmed to be a baby girl that was dumped or put in an ice cream box. Believe me, it is quite strange and one would want to believe that it (baby) was put in the fridge because it was still cold believed to have been frozen, “ stated Shipandeni.’’
Initiator for the No to gender based death and violence, Zackary Itodo advised family members to look out for one another particularly when someone threatens to take their own lives especially when suicide cases are on an increase.
“It is not enough reason to kill your baby, because what this woman did is really disheartening. Find a solution even if the father of the baby is refusing. There are always solutions to these problems, instead of killing or dumping the baby, go to the police or hospital and speak to a social worker,”remarked Itodo.
A relative, Hileni Hwepo, who lived with the suspect for 11 years told TodayonOne that she did not know the suspect was expecting. Hwepo added that the suspect has four children and this news came as a shock to the family.
Hwepo briefly narrated that she was at work when she received a call from her husband who informed her a baby was found in a tub in their dustbin. She said the police investigation revealed that the 32-year-old was the suspect.“I don’t have words to say because this really broke our hearts as we didn’t expect her to do this,”a distraught Hwepo said.
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