Cape Town - A police officer said he found it strange that a doctor told a man who brought a dead child to his practice to take her lifeless body to the nearest clinic or take it home.
Constable Zola Niyawana on Monday testified in the Western Cape High Court before Judge Siraj Desai in the murder trial of Khumkala Makasi, mother of the dead child, and Lwanda Sobekwa who are accused of murdering 2-year-old Lumka Makasi on May 15, 2017, in Driftsands, Mfuleni.
They also face charges of child neglect and assault. A post-mortem report showed that the child had died of multiple blunt force injuries to the body. The report said her brain was swollen, both lungs were collapsed, the anus appeared distended and larger than normal, and there were abrasions and old wounds on the body.
The pair have pleaded not guilty.
On the day of the murder, Niyawana and his colleague were the first to arrive at the crime scene. Niyawana said he spoke to accused No 2, who introduced himself as Lwanda Sobekwa, but said he couldn’t remember if it was the same man in the dock.
“He told me that a child had died and took me to the shack where the body was lying on the bed. I looked at the child and saw she wasn’t breathing. Mr Lwanda told me the child was shaking in the toilet and that he had rushed her to a doctor Patel in the area.
“He said the doctor told him that the child was dead and that he must take her to the nearest clinic or take her home.”
Prosecutor LJ Badenhorst said the State will present evidence from a witness who saw Sobekwa beating the child with a hanger.