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18-year-old woman at Nchalo in Chikwawa is being held in police custody after she poured hot water on her 4-year-old stepdaughter.
Chikwawa police public relations officer, Foster Benjamin has confirmed of the incident and identified the woman as Bertha Banda who is alleged to have scalded the child on 30 May at Illovo Factory Village.
According to Benjamin, the act is said to have left the innocent girl deformed on both her right hand and face.
“It is said that the suspect married the victim’s father, Charles Harrison, in November last year and she had found him already fathering two kids from his previous marriage.
“The kids–twin brother and sister-were being nursed by a maid, “said Benjamin.
He continued to say, on 29 May, the maid took leave and went to her home village to undergo initiation ceremony.
“The suspect, however, allegedly took advantage and doused the little girl with boiled water, grievously injuring her in the process.
“The victim was rushed to Kalulu Illovo Clinic before being referred to Mercy James Center in Blantyre, “added the PRO.
Having being discharged, the victim disclosed her ordeal to her biological mother, saying it was her aunt( the suspect) who had deliberately scalded her.
The revelation, however, trashed Banda’s earlier assertion that she had accidentally scalded the victim, as she was trying to bathe her own daughter.
Police apprehended the suspect and charged her with grievous harm.
She comes from Lomosi Village in the area of Paramount Chief Lundu in Chikwawa District and she is expected appear in court on Friday.
