Watch: 17-year-old attempts to kill new-born baby to preserve relationship – Manica

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Watch: 17-year-old attempts to kill new-born baby to preserve relationship – Manica

2:16 CAT | 15 Jan 2018

TVM

A 17-year-old girl has been detained by police in Manica, central Mozambique, for attempting to kill her new-born baby reportedly in order to preserve her relationship, a police source said on Friday.

The young woman is a mother already with a 3-year-old daughter conceived at the age of 13. She induced her own delivery at home in the area of Cafumpe, Gondola, on December 29, and after giving birth, she wrapped the newborn in rags and tried to put him in a traditional latrine in a neighbouring house, Manica Police spokeswoman Elcidia Filipe explained.

“She was prematurely and polygamously married, and was supposedly pregnant by a third man who did not acknowledge paternity, and [she] tried to get rid of the baby by putting it down a latrine,” Filipe said. The teenager was being charged with ‘attempted infanticide’.

After putting the baby in the latrine, the 17-year-old walked almost 10 kilometres through the night in search of health care. During the night, the child’s cries aroused the attention of the neighbours, who rescued the newborn.

“When the child was rushed to hospital in the morning, the mother was still under maternity care,” Filipe explained.

“When the teenager realised that the newborn rescued from a latrine was in the same hospital, she fled, and was only arrested recently.”

Without citing figures, Filipe said that the cases of infanticide by adolescents have been on the increase in Manica lately, despite legislation that allows abortion under certain circumstances.

By 2017, at least four cases of attempted infanticide involving adolescents and adult women were reported by Manica police, most of the babies abandoned in public dumps.

Reality suggests that many more cases occur in a province plagued by premature and polygamous marriage, which deeply affect teenagers’ lives, subjecting them to third-party decisions about their future.

“We have been working on the prevention of infanticide at our community meetings, urging communities to be more vigilant and to report cases urgently, which allows us to intervene swiftly. We have managed to save lives in up to 80 percent of reported cases,” Filipe said.

In the present, the hospital in Gondola said that the newborn is well, and its condition improving.

“This baby is in stable health despite having spent hours in contact with chemicals. Its skin and the breathing are healthy,” Lusa Eguinaldo João, clinical director of the Gondola district hospital where the child is receiving attention, said.

Meanwhile, due to the situation, the list of candidates for adopting the newborn keeps growing.