Malawi Police arrest parents for marrying off girl, 14

A mother of a 14-year-old girl who has just given birth in Machinga, is in police custody for marrying off an under-age girl.

Machinga police spokesperson Davie Sulumba said the police have also picked the mother of the boy who married the girl when she was 13-years-old.

“The boy has bolted when he knew that we had arrested his parents. They married when the girl was just 13-year-old,” said Sulumba.

The issue came to light last week when she went to Machinga district hospital to deliver and she told the nurses that she was aged 15 and married.

Sulumba said this raised the curiosity of the medical staff who later discovered that she was 14 and was married off when she was 13.

Sulumba said the parents have since been charged with celebrating child marriage, saying the wedding ceremony took place at Chiganda village in chief Nkoola’s area in the district.

The child is now under the case of Child Safety Site under Yoneco, according to Sulumba.