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The bucket where the baby was found

Cynthia Dube, Chronicle Reporter
A TEEN mother of one from Bulawayo secretly gave birth, allegedly strangled the baby and stashed the body in a bucket.

Linda Ncube (19) from Gwabalanda suburb allegedly loaded stones into the bucket, on top of the body, covered it with a blanket and kept it outside the house.

Residents yesterday said Ncube disappeared from home on Monday after they asked her about her baby.

Bulawayo Police spokesperson Inspector Precious Simango confirmed the incident but could not give more details.

“We have received a case of infanticide that happened in Gwabalanda suburb. The woman is on the run and investigations are in progress,” she said.

One of Ncube`s relatives who preferred anonymity yesterday said she was still shocked about the incident.

“I am really shocked about what Linda did. On Monday morning she left her first born with another relative and said she was going to hospital because she was almost due to give birth. To my surprise, in the afternoon her siblings opened the bucket only to discover that there was a dead baby inside,” said the relative.

Stones and rubble which were placed in the bucket to cover the baby

“The baby had matured. She was a very big beautiful girl but she was also covered with smelly blood. We called police officers who took the body.

“As for now, we do not know her whereabouts but police have taken her uncle and sibling who discovered the incident for questioning.”

The relative said that no one realised Ncube was no longer pregnant as she used to cover herself with a blanket.

She said Ncube had many boyfriends and she could have killed her baby because she did not know the father.

She told The Chronicle that mothers should monitor their children always to notice problems with them early.

“We must always be there for our children to recognise their problems. In Linda`s case, she is young and a mother of a three-year-old. Maybe the pregnancy also stressed her and she decided to kill her own baby,” said the woman.

A neighbour who saw the police taking the baby said Ncube`s mother should give answers to the police about the incident.

“Linda`s mother is a maid in Magwegwe suburb but she was around these days and she shared a bedroom with her daughter. She could have known that Linda was no longer pregnant. The bad smell and flies all over show that the baby has been kept in that bucket for a week or so,” she said.

@cynthiamthembo1