2005: S.Africa: Black Teenage Mum: I drowned my HIV+ baby in a toilet

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A young Matatiele mother admitted in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday to killing her nine-month-old baby because she was HIV positive.

Thobeka Mtoto, 22, killed baby Unathi on 14 March this year by stuffing her into a sack and drowning her in a school toilet.

In a written statement to the court the mother said that after the birth of Unathi in June 2004, she had tested positive for HIV. At the time of the baby’s birth she was a Grade 12 pupil.

Mtoto, who is now five months pregnant with another man’s child, said Unathi’s father had promised to help her, but never did.

‘I was feeling depressed so I took the baby and went to sit on the roadside’

A few days prior to the murder she said she had been “irritable and depressed about her HIV status”.

She had been involved in an argument with her sister. “On that day I had an argument with my sister, which turned into a physical confrontation. I was feeling depressed so I took the baby and went to sit on the roadside. “

Mtoto said she then went home, fed the baby and put her to bed. A little while later she said she felt “very aggressive”.

“I felt like grabbing someone and killing them. I went to the next room and got a sack. I returned to the bedroom and placed the baby in the sack. I went to a nearby school where I dumped the deceased (baby Unathi) in the toilet.”

When Mtoto’s mother enquired about the missing baby, she said the baby had been sent to its father.

Mtoto’s mother grew suspicious and called the police. When the police arrived, she admitted everything and showed them where the Unathi’s body was. She said her HIV status made her afraid of the future of her baby.

This article was originally published on page 1 of Daily News on August 12, 2005

Source: Independent Online (IOL)
URL: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click
Source: https://archive.africancrisis.info/?p=106053