Drunk mom jailed for killing baby

Tue, 01 Aug 2017 10:20:37 +0000

By CHINTU MALAMBO
A 24-YEAR-OLD woman of Lusaka has been slapped with two years, simple imprisonment for causing the death of her three- month old baby boy.
Before High Court Justice Bubile Lungu, was Elizabeth Banda who pleaded guilty to the charge of manslaughter, contrary to section 199 of the penal cord, section 87 of the laws of Zambia.
Particulars of the offence were that Banda, on 5th June, 2016 went drinking at around 17:00 hours when she left her baby boy under the care of her younger sister.
She returned home around 21:00 hours and retired to bed with her baby while her sister slept in the living room.
As the accused had been drinking, she could not take proper care of her baby, therefore, at about 22:00 hours, the baby fell to the ground and started crying.
When the sister heard the baby crying, she went to check on him and found that the baby was on the floor while the accused was sitting on the bed. She asked the accused to breastfeed him.
Subsequently, as they were sleeping, the accused negligently slept over the baby and the following morning, it was discovered that the baby was dead.
On 8th June, 2016, postmortem examination conducted on the baby revealed that he died due to suffocation.
On 14th June, 2016, Banda was detained and charged with manslaughter.
In her judgment, Ms. Justice Lungu considered mitigation, passed on behalf of the convict, by Legal Aid Board counsel, Grace Mukulwamutiyo.
“I have carefully considered mitigation, passed on behalf of the convict, that the convict deeply regrets the action, which she has demonstrated by readily pleading guilty to the charge, that she has suffered emotional trauma especially that she did not get a chance to mourn her baby in a respectable manner, that she was still young, a first offender who deserved the leniency of the court and that she regrets the actions that lead to her incarceration,” she said.
Ms Justice Lungu, however imposed a two-year simple imprisonment term, with effect from the date of arrest.