A Katutura family is numb with disbelief after the alleged killing of a 10-day-old baby girl and the attempted murder of a seven-year-old deaf boy at the hands of their mother.

The 28-year-old woman, who is arrested for allegedly murdering her 10-day-old baby girl, after hitting her against a wooden door in Katutura on Thursday afternoon, is expected to appear in court today.

 According to the Khomas police spokesperson Silas Shipandeni, the suspect was charged on Friday afternoon. Shipandeni said the woman who was suspected to be under the influence of alcohol, also allegedly attempted to strangle her seven-year-old son, but was overpowered by her biological mother.  “She grabbed her seven-year-old son who is deaf and started strangling him. The grandmother tried to stop the suspect but the suspect overpowered her and bite her on the cheek and both arms,” Shipandeni explained. He said the suspect is facing murder and attempted murder charges.

Family member Annamarie Khoe//au claimed the suspect has been on drugs lately and they were not sure if she had used it on that specific day.

“We are not close to her but what I can tell you is that she has been using drugs and whenever she uses it, she starts to abuse her grandmother,” she said.

Khoe//au explained that the suspect never used to beat her children before but she normally beat her grandmother every time she comes home drugged.

“On that specific day, she came home drugged, went straight to my mother in-law’s (the accused’s grandmother) bedroom and told her, ‘today is the day I have to kill my children because I am tired’. My mother- in-law did not take it seriously until she saw her picking the baby and hit her on the wooden door. It was traumatising and she moved to stop her,” she said.

Although this reporter contacted the grandmother, she could not speak.

“The grandmother is busy with the social worker. She cannot talk to you now,” said Khoe//au who opted to break the silence about the story.

She said both the suspect’s parents passed away when she was a small girl and was raised by the father’s family in the north. “I cannot describe her much because she did not grow up around us. She was raised by her father’s family in the north. Only after the grandmother’s passing in the north did she come to stay with her grandmother here when she was 21-years old. But what she did is traumatising and shocking,” said Khoe//au. She said the seven-year-old boy, who is deaf, is doing well and in the hands of the family. – ljason@nepc.com.na