Female herbalist arrested for murder in Dowa

Police in Dowa have arrested a female herbalist on suspicion that she killed a 2-year-old child.

The herbalist has been identified as Nasiwelo Katema (adult) from Loke Village in Traditional Authority Msakambewa in Dowa District.

The incident happened on Thursday, August 4, 2022 at Loke Village.

It is reported that the deceased, Farai Chinsinsi was born with a tumor in her head and the parents have been making efforts to visit various hospitals including Kamuzu Central Hospital where they were advised to wait for a specialist doctor to carry out the operation.

However, the parents failed to wait for this arrangement and they thought of taking the child to the said traditional doctor.

On Thursday, August 4, 2022 at around 09:20 hours, the parents took the child for medication at the house of the herbalist who is said to have been treating many people of their their problems.

Upon arrival at the herbalist’s house and after he checked the problem, the suspect started trying to remove the tumor by using a razor blade and started cutting the tumor.

The child cried as the tumor was being cut and she died in the process.

The matter was reported to community leaders who also reported to police.

Upon receiving the report, police in accompany of a medical doctor visited the scene and postmortem conducted revealed that death was due to loss of blood secondary to an incirsium tumor.

The suspect will appear before court soon to answer a charge of murder.