State withdraws murder charge against mother
Mpho Mokwape | Tuesday April 8, 2014 10:48
Sithembinkosi Madziba is alleged to have dumped her baby after giving birth secretly in 2010. She will now face the lesser charge of birth concealment.
Yesterday, state prosecutor, Mpho Kemmolainyane, told Justice Michael Mothobi of the High Court that evidence for the initial charge of murder was insufficient to convict. He said the suitable charge is birth concealment, hence the state’s withdrawal of the murder case.
Kemmolainyane said it was unfair to charge the mother with murder when there are irregularities in the case, stressing that Madziba was not even taken for psychiatric evaluation after the arrest. “The state when scrutinising the particulars of the case found that there were a few loopholes that resulted in the decision to withdraw the murder charge. Most of the evidence we have for murder is circumstantial,” he said.
In the original charge sheet, Madziba was alleged to have given birth to a baby then dumped it without anyone’s knowledge, an act which raised neighbours’ alarm as they had knowledge of the pregnancy. She was arrested and charged with murder. The case continues today.