By A Correspondent- A woman from Mutare who killed her newborn baby by giving birth in a bucket of hot water is thanking her lucky stars after she was spared from serving a jail term and sentenced to just community service.

National broadcaster ZBC reports that 20-year-old Queen Makombe appeared at the Mutare Magistrates’ Court where she was facing charges of concealing birth and infanticide. She was sentenced to two years in jail after being convicted of the crimes.

However, the magistrate spared Makombe from serving a custodial sentence and gave her an alternative sentence of performing 490 hours of community service as well as a suspended 10-month jail term on condition that she does not commit a similar crime in the next 5 years.

During the trial, the court heard that Makombe gave birth on the 23rd of January. She is reported to have deliberately given birth in a bucket of hot water as she wanted to kill the newborn baby. After killing the newborn baby, Makombe disposed of the body in a nearby stream.

However, alert neighbours noticed that Makombe was no longer pregnant and that there was no news of her giving birth. The neighbours quickly alerted the police saying they suspected foul play.

The police then carried out investigations into the matter and Makombe was unable to provide a satisfactory explanation regarding her pregnancy and how it had disappeared. She eventually cracked during questioning and confessed to killing and disposing of her newborn baby in the stream.

Under Zimbabwean law, any woman who causes the death of her child within 6 months of giving birth is not charged with murder even if the killing is intentional. Instead, the woman is charged with infanticide because the law deems that the woman’s balance of mind is disturbed by giving birth.

The maximum sentence for infanticide under the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform ) Act is 5 years in jai