A female security guard at a public health facility has been arrested after she allegedly took pills to induce abortion and went on to slit the throat of the infant.
She proceeded to throw the innocent baby in a pit latrine.
Nomthandazo Thuli Sithole (42) of Sinceni, outside Siphofaneni, was arrested this week after it was discovered she had terminated her pregnancy and further killed the baby when she was only a few months to her due date.
The offence was allegedly committed a week ago, but the woman was only arrested this week. She was allegedly at an advanced stage of pregnancy when the termination took place.
She was working as a security guard at Sinceni clinic. The gruesome murder came to light last Wednesday, after concerned staffers noted that she had not been attending antenatal care, yet she was showing visible signs of pregnancy.
Antenatal care involves regular visits by pregnant mothers to a health facility, and is meant for check-ups and monitoring throughout the pregnancy.
The visits are crucial for monitoring the health of both the mother and baby, and for early detection and management of any potential completions.
So, when the staff members at the clinic discovered that one of their own was not attending antenatal care, the staffers became worried and took the matter up with their superiors.
A senior nurse was requested to convince the affected staff member to undergo tests to determine whether she was pregnant or not, and if she really needed to attend antenatal care. Acting on the raised concerns, the nurse did as told.
But the concerns came a little too late.
Witnesses disclosed that the woman reluctantly gave in, after being approached by the nurse.
However, the healthcare worker was later to find out that the woman had ‘developed some complications’ related to her pregnancy. Tests proved she had been pregnant. But when the nurse conducted the tests, the woman was bleeding.
This raised serious concerns and further tests were prescribed. Subsequent investigations revealed that the woman had allegedly terminated a pregnancy, and possibly at a late stage.
It is suspected that she may have taken pills to induce the abortion.
It was later discovered that upon terminating the pregnancy, the woman allegedly turned to the baby and used a knife to slit open its throat, before throwing the remains into a pit latrine. This transpired during an inspection that was conducted by investigators, a week after the woman had allegedly terminated her pregnancy. She was leading the investigators during the exercise. Clinic staffers had found out about the pregnancy on the previous Thursday, only a day after she had allegedly aborted.
When asked about the baby she became elusive, prompting members of the local community policing forum, who picked up the matter from the clinic, to alert the police. Opening a case against the woman, members of the local community policing forum said they had obtained evidence indicating that the woman was pregnant, and that the pregnancy appeared to have been terminated.
Searches were conducted at the woman’s place of residence and preliminary investigations allegedly indicated that she may have thrown the infant into a pit latrine located within the compound. Police were compelled to conduct an inspection, where the remains of the baby were retrieved from the pit latrine.
The woman was subsequently arrested.
Narrating the chronology of events leading to the arrest, a member of the local community policing forum said: “she was advised to go to the clinic, and did not initially disclose to health workers that she had terminated a pregnancy. It was only discovered after tests were conducted. This was after she was found bleeding. Further tests had to be performed.”
A clinic staffer also disclosed that the woman was initially approached after concerns about her health or safety.
This was after the staff members discovered that she was not attending antenatal care and yet there was overwhelming suspicion that she was expectant.
“We told her that her safety was our priority and that whatever happened we would support her. Actually staff members had taken a decision during a meeting, to go around encouraging expectant mothers to attend antenatal care. Then, one staffer raised a concern that there was one among us who was also not attending antenatal care,” explained the staff member. The security guard was taken to the Siphofaneni Police Station where she was subsequently charged with murder.
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