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52 WEEKS COMMUNITY SERVICE FOR DUMPING NEWBORN

05/09/2020 08:59:00 BY MBONGISENI NDZIMANDZE

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MBABANE – For two months, her newly-born baby’s body was left in an open veld all by itself and maggots had a field day with the dumped infant.

For this, Sibongile Bongiwe Mamba, the mother of the child, should count herself lucky because instead of being found guilty of murder, the court sentenced her to 52 weeks of community service for having allegedly caused the demise of the child.

Mamba of Madvuma area in the Lubombo Region will clean the Siphofaneni Police Station twice a week being Wednesday and Saturday. Mamba was sentenced by Judge John Magagula.

She pleaded not guilty of murder but admitted of having exposed an infant or disposing of the body of a child with intent to conceal the fact of its birth. Judge Magagula found Mamba guilty as per her own plea.

During the arguments of the matter, the court was informed that Mamba was forced by circumstances to commit the offence.

Denying

The court heard that when Mamba was eight months pregnant, she went to Siteki to inform her mother that one Sifiso was denying paternity of the child and she did not know what to do.

Her mother is said to have also told her (Mamba) that she was also a needy person and could not take care of the child.

Mamba narrated that she went back to Tambuti to her husband, Buhle Zwane, who told her that he would not assist her with the child since he was not father.

Mamba recounted that on October 31, 2014 at Phumulacashi area, she gave birth to a child, a boy, in the presence of Ntombikayise Dlamini and Nosimilo Nozi Mafampane.

Submitted

She submitted that she left Phumulamcashi with the newly-born baby and her three other children to Tambuti.

She told the court that along the way, she left her other children at a spot and took the newborn a distance away from the road. Mamba said she rolled the child with a baby blanket, placed it into a plastic and proceeded to put it next to a fence.

Ignored

According to Mamba, the baby cried but she ignored it and went to where she had left the other children.

She said she went to Tambuti with her three children and found Buhle Zwane, who was their (three children’s) father. Zwane, according to Mamba, asked her the whereabouts of the newborn baby and she told him she had taken it to its father, which was a lie.

The court heard that on December 1, 2012, detective P Simelane of Big Bend Police Station arrested Mamba in relation to the death of the new- born.

Mamba is reported to have led the police to where she left the newborn baby and it was found decomposed in a plastic,

On question of sentencing for such offence, Mamba’s lawyer Sabelo Bhembe referred the court to Section 148 of the Child Protection and Welfare Act of 2012.

Psychological

Section 148(1) provides that: “Any person who being a person having the care of a child, abuses, neglects, abandons or exposes the child in a manner likely to cause the child physical, psychological or emotional injury or causes or permits the child to be so abused, neglected, abandoned or exposed, commits an offence and is liable on conviction for the offence to a community based sanction to imprisonment for a term not less than five years.”

The lawyer implored the court to impose a community-based sanction.

In support of this contention he invited the court to consider that Mamba was remorseful. He said this was evident from the fact that she pleaded guilty to an appropriate charge in the circumstance of the case.

Bhembe further told the court that Mamba was led into committing the offence by the situation she found herself in at the time.

“The accused is said to have had a misunderstanding with her husband. The misunderstanding was so serious that the two went into self-separation.

“During the separation Mamba met another man and she got pregnant with the deceased child,” submitted the lawyer.

The court was told that things did not go well with the other man and she eventually reconciled with her husband.

Support

It was submitted that her husband wanted her back but did not want anything to do with the child. At the same time the biological father of the child also wanted nothing to do with it.

The accused is said to have tried to take the child to her mother but she also pointed out that she had no means to support it.

Appearing for the Crown in this matter was Ayanda Matsenjwa from the chamber of the Director of Public Prosecution while Senior lawyer Sabelo Bhembe was representing the accused.