Mansa Police Arrest 18-yr-old Man for Exhuming Baby’s Body

An 18-year-old man in Mansa has been arrested for allegedly exhuming a baby in a local cemetery in what appears to be a ritual practice.

Police Spokesperson Esther Katongo said the 18-year-old was picked up after some members of the public alerted police.

Katongo said the suspect was spotted by alert Namwandwe villagers around 16:00 hours at Mukanda graveyard with a hoe exhuming a baby’s body on June 6.

She said residents mobilised themselves and apprehended the suspect whom they found holding the body of the baby.

“Police in Mansa received a report of tampering with the dead and trespassing on a burial site in which Namwandwe villagers apprehended a male person who allegedly exhumed the body of a baby from the graveyard. This happened on June 6, 2019 at 16:00 hours,” Katongo stated.

She stated that when the police visited the scene, they found the young man holding the corpse wrapped in a baby blanket near the tampered grave.

“It was reported that villagers saw the suspect of Kolala Farm in Chief Mabumba’s area in Mansa District, at Mukanda graveyard, with a hoe exhuming a dead body,” Katongo stated.

Katongo stated that when the residents mobilised themselves, they went to inform the suspect’s father, who suspected his son to be mentally unstable.

She said after efforts to find the baby’s relatives failed, police, with the help of villagers led by headman Paul Chitima of Mukanda Village, reburied the exhumed body.

Katongo said police have detained the suspect and arrangements were being made to subject him to a medical examination to determine his mental status.