A 27-year old South African woman will be charged with murder after the body of her baby was found dumped in a bush, police said.
A man found the body of her 11-month-old baby girl in garbage bag in near Port St Johns in Eastern Cape on Friday and then the mother was traced.
The suspect was reportedly beaten by angry members of the community before being handed over to the police.
A police report revealed that the infant fell sick on December 29 and passed away at about 5am on January 1.
“It is alleged the mother wrapped the child in a towel, put her in a plastic bag and threw her in the bushes at Nonyevu locality where she was living at the time,” police spokesperson Captain Welile Matyolo said.
Post-mortem
The mother will appear in the Port St Johns magistrate’s court to face a murder charge, the authorities said. A post-mortem will be conducted to determine the cause of death, they added.
The suspect has not yet commented publicly on the allegations.
South Africa, with a population of about 60 million, averaged 68 murders a day in the second quarter of 2023, an increase of nearly 20% on the same period in 2019. The authorities have stepped up measures to tackle rising crime rates across the country.
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