A 29-year-old foreign national woman is currently on trial at the Randburg Magistrates’ Court for allegedly murdering her newborn.
The state is alleging that Sibusisiwe Ndlovu killed her newborn by stabbing the child with a sharp object. On 24 May, the case was on the court roll for further evidence and Monalisa Sibanda took the stand as a witness. She told the court that she was with the accused woman on that fateful day when the baby was killed.
According to Sibanda, the incident occurred on 8 February last year, just after 11.30pm. She and the accused, together with others who were travelling from work in a taxi, noticed that the accused suddenly requested to use the bathroom. The taxi stopped and the accused went out and returned after a few minutes.
Sibanda said this happened again, twice, The third time she asked the taxi to stop, the accused went to the bathroom and stayed away much longer than previous times. Worried about what could be holding her up, one of the taxi’s occupants went to look for her and that’s when the gruesome discovery was made.
Sibanda told the court that the concerned taxi-occupant ran back towards the taxi screaming, saying there was a baby crying. At this point, the accused was apparently making her way back to the taxi. Sibanda testified that she also went to find out what was going on and she instructed the accused to return to the bathroom with her, to see what was happening.
She said she found the baby lying on the floor, crying. “I then asked the accused to give me her jersey so that I could wrap the baby up, which she did,” explained Sibanda. The witness said she picked the baby up and wrapped it in the mother’s jersey.
State Prosecutor, Linda Dlamini asked the witness if she managed to notice the baby’s gender and her response was no.
After wrapping the baby up, Sibanda said she and others went to look for help from houses closer to where they were but said they couldn’t get any help as most people were sleeping.
Upon returning towards the taxi, Sibanda told the court they found a police vehicle which transported them to the local clinic. The accused, together with Sonto Hlope (who was travelling with them) and the baby, then entered the clinic. “After a few minutes, Hlope came out and told us the baby was dead,” explained Sibanda.
Dlamini asked the witness if she was aware that the baby had injuries and her response was that she saw no injuries on the baby.
The prosecutor then showed the witness some photographs that were taken after the baby’s death. The photographs showed that the baby’s face was scratched and open.
What the witness saw on the photographs left her shattered and she broke down and sobbed. The court had to adjourn for a few minutes before she could continue with her evidence.
The case has been remanded to 18 June for the state to call more witnesses.
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