Police Concerned About Dumped Foetuses

PATRICIA MAGANU
Staff Writer | Monday October 12, 2009 00:00

Babies have been found at the Mambo sewerage after they had been dumped and in many cases no one is brought to book because it is not easy to catch the culprits.

Kutlwano Police Station commander superintendent Rodney Nkokwe said that the situation is frustrating because this year only they have had several cases.

'It is a burning issue because these foetuses will mostly be found at the sewerage as they come floating in the dirty water and it is not easy to catch such a person,' he said.

He said that since the beginning of this year they have found seven foetuses and most of them were from the Mambo Sewerage but some of them were just dumped.

'Some of the foetuses would be wrapped in plastic and things like and it is a very disturbing situation,' he added.

Nkokwe further advised women to be responsible about conceiving.

'If someone is not ready or not planning to have a baby they should not fall pregnant because this is what it leads to,' he said.

He said dumping of babies was disturbing because besides being against the law it was immoral and cruel.

The police boss said that the latest case was on September 21.  

Officer Commanding District 15 senior superintendent Alakanani Makobo said that they are concerned about foetus dumping incidents especially because some of the cases go nowhere because they would be no suspect.

'Most of the time we do not succeed in catching people who dump these foetuses because by time we find the foetus the culprit is probably long gone unless they are people around who know who was pregnant,' he said.

He said this year they have had incidents in Matsiloje, Francistown, Tonota, Gerald and others.

'Most of these foetuses are found in the sewerage,' he said.

He said that it is a concern for mothers to have babies dead or alive and then dump them just anywhere but some of the women have not been that lucky in attempting to elude the law.

'In one case a Tonota woman was arrested, in another a Matsiloje woman was arrested.

All in all we have had three arrests and failed to arrest six in which most of the babies were found the sewerage,' he said.

He said that seven are registered with Kutlwano Police Station.