Justice catches up with baby killer

By WYSON CHIPUTA GONDWE
Her plan was simple: conceal her pregnancy, give birth in secret, strangle the baby and bury it.
It seemed a flawless arrangement until the cries of the newly-born baby were heard beyond the four walls of the bedroom in which Dorica Mbale, 20, gave birth at Mbanganiko Village in Rumphi
Even though she later strangled the baby to death and hid its tiny body in a bag, word about the baby’s cries had already reached elderly women in the community.
“Her sister heard the baby crying, but when she asked Mbale what was happening, she said she had stomachache…the sister smelt a rat and alerted women in the village,” explained Rumphi Police spokesperson, Victor Khamisi.
Khamisi said the women forced Mbale to go to hospital for testing.
“As they were leaving for the hospital, blood spilt from the bag that Mbale was carrying, prompting the women to open it only to find the strangled baby,” he said.
Khamisi said Mbale was charged with concealing birth of a child, before the district’s magistrate’s court slapped her with a 24-month custodial sentence.