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A nine-year-old Tsholotsho minor on Monday became the country’s youngest mom ever after successfully delivering a baby girl through caesarian section.
The girl, who is a victim of rape, delivered a baby girl at the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) on Monday morning.
UBH acting clinical director Dr Harrison Rambanapasi said: “I wish to inform the nation that our nine-year-old has given birth at UBH. Our specialists performed the C-section in the early hours of today. The outcome is a healthy baby girl with a weight just above 3kg. Both the mother and the baby are in a stable condition.
“The pressure was very high as everyone wanted to see the patient but the specialists focused on the needs of the patient and made sure that her right to privacy was protected and upheld.
“We continue to manage the patient with due dignity and look forward to other government departments like law enforcement, judiciary and social welfare to continue playing their part to ensure that this matter is concluded in the best interest of the patient.”
The child’s birth will serve as the basis for a paternity test to identify the rape perpetrator.
The minor’s father is currently being held in police custody as the prime suspect of the shock abuse as he was the only male relative living with the girl.
The girl, narrating her rape ordeal, recently told her foster mother that the sexual abuse occurred only at night, after the lights had been turned off.
Prior to the acts of sexual abuse, her father reportedly told her that a “goblin” would come and insert something into her private parts.
After the abuse, her father would tell her that the goblin had left through the window, which perplexed her because she remembered her mother closing the window before the lights went out.
(This story has been edited to correct the sex of the baby from boy to girl. The mistake is attributable to wrong information earlier supplied by the hospital’s acting CEO)
