FIVE-DAY-OLD BABY SET ALIGHT BY MUM

SITEKI – The life of an innocent five-day-old baby girl was cut short after she was set alight by her mother.

The shocking incident occurred yesterday morning at Hhukwane near Maphungwane, about 30 kilometres from Siteki town.

Jackson Shongwe, the grandfather of the baby, said the infant was asleep when the mother started a fire inside the house using newspapers.
Shongwe said the mother placed the burning newspapers on the child’s face and upper body causing the toddler to suffer multiple burn wounds.
He said the mother was alone inside the house when she did all this.

“A relative, who had gone to the house to check on them, alerted us when she found the child engulfed in flames. We immediately called paramedics who promptly arrived and rushed the baby to hospital. Unfortunately, she died while being attended to by nurses at the Out Patient Department (OPD),” said Shongwe.

Police Information and Communications Officer Assistant Superintendent Khulani Mamba confirmed that a five-day-old baby died after being set alight by her own mother.

Mamba said Siteki police were investigating the matter but stated that the mother of the child is suspected to be suffering from a mental illness.
“And if that is the case, it will be difficult for us to charge her with murder,” said Mamba.
Meanwhile, Shongwe confirmed that the mother of the child was suffering from a mental illness.

He said his daughter had more than once been admitted to the National Psychiatric Hospital in Manzini, however, he said in the past few days she seemed normal.

This is the same area where, in March 2012, a woman burnt herself to death together with her three children after she had reportedly found clothes belonging to a woman in her husband’s flat in Mbabane.

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