Cape Town police are searching for a woman in connection with the gruesome murder of a newborn baby.
The newborn was found stuffed into a garbage bag on a heap of rubbish in Never Never informal settlement in Brown’s Farm, Philippi, on Saturday morning.
The baby, still wearing a nappy, was found by children who were playing between the shacks. The tiny infant’s throat was slit so deeply that its head was almost severed from its little body.
Now Philippi East cops are looking for the baby’s 26-year-old mother, Lumka Jordaan.
Residents say a very pregnant Lumka recently arrived from Gauteng looking for a job in Cape Town.
Community worker Owen Khathazile says after the children found the baby, they immediately looked for Lumka because they had heard a baby wailing in her shack the previous night.
“We went to the house she shared with a friend and we discovered blood under the bed,” says Owen.
“She might have slashed the baby with a sharp instrument and then dumped it.”
A resident who did not want to be named claims she heard a baby crying in Lumka’s shack.
“The night before I heard a little baby crying. She cried for a while and then it was quiet,” the woman says.
Owen says they were shocked when they found the baby’s mutilated body.
“It was a really sickening discovery, the neck was completely slashed,” he says.
And he says Lumka has since disappeared.
“We don’t know where this woman is now,” he adds.
Police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk confirmed that Lumka was their prime suspect.
Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Chrystal Stanley on 021 370 1900.
Sadly, another dead infant was found in Crossroads on Monday afternoon. No further information was available at the time of going to press. - Daily Voice