Cape Town - Men searching for firewood found a newborn baby buried in a shallow grave with a knife stuck in its chest.
The corpse was discovered wrapped inside a black bag and newspapers on Thursday afternoon in Devon Park in Eersterivier.
Friends James Konja, 57, and Dennis Marks, 40, were about to cut wood inside the bush when they stumbled upon the tragedy.
Half of the tiny body lay inside a freshly made hole in the sand while the top was covered with a black bag and newspapers.
The men said a long knife was protruding from the baby’s chest.
James explained he first saw the hole and later discovered it was actually a grave while walking into the bush.
“We were on our way to cut wood. Then I saw a hole next to a tree stump,” he said.
“I asked Dennis, ‘what that is?’
“Then we saw it is a person.”
James said the baby’s eyes could be seen and the knife was clearly pierced through the chest.
“The backside part of the baby was under the ground. I saw the eyes.
“The hole, it was a grave, but it wasn’t covered with sand and it was deep.
“The knife was through the baby’s chest.”
James’s wife Phoebe Konza, 58, a retired nurse from the Karoo, was called to the scene by her husband.
“I am no detective but there was no blood splatter there and the hole looked neat like a spade was used,” she speculated.
“The persons who did this, the mother or the father, must bandiet (go to jail).”
Dennis said they were left reeling when they saw the knife plunged into the baby’s chest.
“There was a knife – it went right through the baby,” he added.
The men also say they do not know who the infant’s mother is or what the gender of the baby is.
“We do not know who the mother is, but if we hear anything, we will contact the police,” Dennis said.
“We don’t know if it’s a girl or a boy but what we saw has left us with nightmares every night now.”
Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Andrè Traut said a concealment of birth case has been opened. No one was arrested.
Daily Voice