Man ‘steals’, buries stillborn corpse

In a bizarre case, a man from Bulawayo misrepresented himself as the father of a stillborn child before taking the body from Mpilo Centra...

In a bizarre case, a man from Bulawayo misrepresented himself as the father of a stillborn child before taking the body from Mpilo Central Hospital mortuary and burying it at Luveve Cemetery.

Tineyi Machipanda pleaded guilty to supplying false information for a stillbirth when he appeared before magistrate Evelyn Mashavakure yesterday.

He was remanded in custody to June 3, 2016.

Machipanda told the court that he committed the offence just to “assist” in the burial process.

The man is not related to the grieving family, but allegedly decided to “help” them after learning that the father was away in Harare.

It was not revealed in court the role played by the mother of the stillborn child in facilitating the burial.

“I was just assisting them since the child was already dead and the father wasn’t available to facilitate the burial of the child,” he said.

Prosecuting, Alphonse Makonese, said on May 26, 2016, Machipanda and his employer, Max Changachirere, hatched a plan to bury the body.

“Changachirere called Machipanda and made a deal to misrepresent themselves as the father and the other, as the owner of a funeral parlour arranging the burial,” said Makonese.

“Machipanda went to the Registrar General’s office to collect the burial order while Changachirere went to Mpilo mortuary and signed for the body and burial was done on May 27, 2016.

“The accused misrepresented himself as the biological father of the deceased. He processed a burial order for the deceased in his name up to the process of burying the child without the presence of the father.”

Makonese also told the court that the biological father of the child is Hardlife Tadzembwa who works in Harare as a security guard.

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