- A woman has been arrested for allegedly beating her
baby to death. - Neighbours heard the child’s cries and intervened.
- The 11-month-old was declared dead on arrival at a
local clinic.
A Limpopo woman has allegedly beaten her
11-month-old baby to death.
Police responded to the incident in Tswinganani
village in the Tshaulu policing area on Sunday.
“It is alleged that a 42-year-old woman locked
herself and her 11-month-old baby inside the hut and started beating him
up,” police spokesperson Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said.
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“Community members reportedly heard the
frantic cries of the baby and rushed to the house. After realising that the
door was locked, they then broke it and rescued the badly injured baby from the
mother.”
The baby was rushed to a local clinic, but was
declared dead on arrival.
The woman has been arrested on a charge of murder,
and police investigations are continuing.
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The motive for the incident was not clear, Mojapelo
said.
In the wake of the murder, provincial police
commissioner Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe has called on the community to
“desist from engaging in any violent protests”.
“We strongly warn community members in that
part of our province to desist from taking the law into their own hands as this
would make them criminally liable, but they must instead give the police space
to deal with this gruesome incident,” Hadebe said.