The body of a two-year-old girl allegedly murdered by its parents and buried in a shallow grave in Mhangura, a town in northern Zimbabwe, has been exhumed.
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the development, adding that the girl’s parents have been arrested.
It is alleged that the father, Norest Masvosva (30), assaulted the child to death using a wooden switch after accusing her of soiling herself and later buried the corpse along the Hunyani riverbank.
The alleged murder occurred on August 30 when the couple had gone for gold panning along the Hunyani River
The case came to light last week after the child’s mother, Elizabeth Dinhidza reported her husband to the police following a domestic dispute.
Assistant Commissioner Nyathi told ZTN News that the reasons given for the murder were incredible, hence the investigation.
Nyathi, however, refused to comment on speculation that the murder could yet be another ritual killing of an innocent child. He said:
We are conducting investigations and the two parents have been arrested and the body has since been exhumed.
We want to find out the motive because the reasons being given are just unbelievable, that the child was killed for just messing up some pants, which is really disturbing.
… As police we don’t want to speculate, let’s just wait for investigations to proceed.
Last month a seven-year-old boy from Murewa, Tapiwa Makore, was murdered by his uncle in a suspected ritual killing.
Some of Tapiwa’s body parts are still missing and he is yet to be buried.