Child dies while mother performs community service

News
TRAGEDY hit a convicted Bulawayo woman on Wednesday when her daughter died from nose bleeding while she was performing community service as part of her sentence at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) Montrose studios.

TRAGEDY hit a convicted Bulawayo woman on Wednesday when her daughter died from nose bleeding while she was performing community service as part of her sentence at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) Montrose studios. RICHARD MUPONDE SENIOR REPORTER

The woman had been convicted of stealing from a “client” during a “healing session” while masquerading as a prophet in the company of her husband.

Bulawayo acting provincial police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Abednico Ncube yesterday confirmed the death of the minor without releasing more details.

“Yes, it happened. The matter is treated as sudden death,” Ncube said.

However, sources at ZBC Montrose studios said the child died at around 5pm on Wednesday when the woman was coming from registering her hours of community service with her supervisor at the station.

“The child was nose bleeding and she died while her mother was coming from the office to register her hours for the day’s community service. The woman was doing community service at the station for a theft case which happened at a client’s house where she and her husband had gone to render some prophetic services,” a source said.

The woman went to a client’s house with her husband where they conducted a session before she reportedly stole some undisclosed items.

“She took advantage of the client’s absence after she left the room where they were conducting their prayer sessions and stole some property from the house. However, when the client came back she discovered that her items were missing,” another source said.

“The client conducted a body search on the woman and her husband and recovered the items from the self-styled prophet. She made a police report, leading to her arrest. She was convicted of theft and sentenced to perform community service at ZBC.”

ZBC sources said the woman had spent three months performing community service at the studios.