Woman stones newborn grandchild to death, says he is goblin

Kelvin Kasiwulaya

In an event that has left the mouths of many Shurugwi residents agape, Nyarai Ruzive of Ziya village under chief Nhema recently murdered her newly born grandchild and dumped him in a hovel.

 On the 14th of April, Rhoda Mataga (32) gave birth to a baby boy who was never  given a chance to draw his first breath   after being brutally murdered with a stone by his grandmother Nyarai Ruzive (55).

Ruzive killed the baby alleging that he was a goblin and had the belief that her daughter had been witched.

“My child was bewitched, she gave birth to a goblin so the baby had to be killed, ” said Nyarai Ruzive, holding the corpse of her grandchild in her hands.

The mother to the slain baby, Rhoda Mataga was suspected to be pregnant by her neighbors, but to their surprise her large tummy disappeared without any news of an offspring.

The suspicions led to an investigation by Constable Peter Chiwenga of Tongogara rural Police Station

“We approached Rhoda on the 15th of this month to confirm whether the rumor of her pregnancy was true, when I questioned her, she tried to hide the truth and ran away, after a deep investigation with the help of other villagers we discovered an early decomposed body of the murdered baby in a hovel near the accused’s house,”said Constable Chiwenga.

Nyarai Ruzive was then arrested and she is still in police custody and is due to appear in Shurugwi magistrate’s court.