Marauding dogs kill Malawi woman, injure baby in Lilongwe

About five dogs Tuesday morning attacked and killed a woman in Lilongwe’s T/A Njewa area and left a four-month-old baby she had strapped on her back seriously wounded.

Dog bite surviving baby Rebecca now in stable condition -  Pic. By Kondwani Magombo  Pic by Kondwani Magombo
Dog bite surviving baby Rebecca now in stable condition – Pic. By Kondwani Magombo P

Sources said the incident happened in the wee hours when the woman (identity yet to be established) was on her way to work in her maize field following her husband who had gone earlier.

“The dogs attacked her at around 5:00am and she was found lying in a pool of blood, her baby still strapped on her back, crying,” explained an eyewitness.

He said when people came to the scene, the vicious dogs, whose owner is yet to be established, had already deserted the scene.

The woman and the baby were rushed to Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) where she was pronounced dead apparently due to heavy loss of blood due to serious wounds she had sustained.

The Lilongwe police expressed ignorance of the incident but said they would investigate it to establish what happened and who owns the dogs.

On the other hand, KCH confirmed the development but had no full details at hand of the deceased, nor the actual village she hailed from.

“The woman had sustained serious injuries and when they brought her here, we tried to resuscitate her but in vain,” explained the hospital’s spokesperson, Mabel Chinkhata.

She said the two were brought by a ‘Samaritan’ of foreign origin who had found people from the community stranded with the wounded mother and baby and the man had offered to ferry them to hospital in his vehicle.

The baby, Rebecca Samuel, was immediately treated with anti-rabies drugs and, according to clinician, Anderson Kalombo, she is now safe and in stable condition.

“She was in a very terrible condition the day she was brought into this ward,” explained Kalombo. “She was bleeding and she couldn’t breathe properly and we had to put her on oxygen. We immediately treated her with anti-rabies vaccine which, very luckily, was available.”

As of Thursday, the baby was placed in the Children Ward’s High Dependency Unit (HDU) not because her condition demanded that she should be there, but because there was nobody to look after her except the nurses, according to the health authorities.

Meanwhile, the father of the surviving baby has pleaded with the hospital to identify someone to help looking after her but according to Chinkhata, the man who brought the deceased mother and the baby to hospital had offered to only be providing all the baby’s basic needs.

“This man is already providing the baby with milk, diapers and everything and he also helped with all the funeral arrangements for the mother,” explained the spokesperson for the hospital.

She added, “However, the man said he could only manage to assist the child but not adopting her so we have arranged to meet the father after all funeral arrangements are over and chart the way forward.”

KCH has since described the incident as very shocking and that as a health facility, they are very concerned.

“It’s very unfortunate that people leave dogs unattended to like that; what the public doesn’t know is that it is very cheap to prevent a dog from rabies but very expensive to treat a person who has been bitten by a rabid dog,” she observed.

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Maraudingdogs
Maraudingdogs
9 years ago

I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT THIS GUY WHO OFFERED ASSISTANCE ON THIS FATEFUL DAY OF THE WOMAN KNOWS SOMETHING ABOUT THE OWNERSHIP OF THESE VICIOUS DOGS ONLY THAT HE IS TRYING TO HIDE ON CHIPANDE. OUR POLICE MUST SERIOUSLY QUESTION HIM.WE ARE NOT SAYING THAT HIS IMMEDIATE SUPPORT WAS BAD BUT WE HAVE MANY QUESTIONS OVER HIS FAST ACTIVITIES ON THIS MATTER.

Thitherward Wendo
Thitherward Wendo
9 years ago

Rabid dogs may give us hydrophobia, which may result in us making comments like 42/43, but what is it that results in all the xenophobic comments on this topic? Based on this story, some people think that the mysterious foreigner is a selfless hero. Others suspect that he is the irresponsible owner of a pack of killer-dogs. The reason for the wide range of responses to this story is the fact that it was so badly researched. What Nyasatimes has published is about half of a preliminary set of working notes – not an article. If the reader wants to… Read more »

weddington kamanga
9 years ago

Mwini agaluyu ayenela kuyankha mulandu oweta ziweto zachiwewe

Rinel gritam
Rinel gritam
9 years ago

i think its time for pariament members to establsh a law whch wl punish all dog ownerz who do nt take care of them. Ths is satanizm

Samaritan?
Samaritan?
9 years ago

Thanks to the Samaritan.

BUT could he also be investigated in case he is the owner of the dogs? You never know.may be they escaped from his compound around that area! Just curious!

Ndanena
Ndanena
9 years ago

Police should not fail to book the owner of these dogs. Honestly its not an issue that Police tell the Public that WE ARE INVESTIGATING NO!!!! No corruption Here with the owner of these . This is murder case and the owner immediately BE ARRESTED.

Zondiwe
Zondiwe
9 years ago

No. 43, don’t be silly.
I don’t care whether you are a rasta or not, but dont be silly.
What you write is utter foolishness, and should not be tolerated at all cost.
If you do not know how to sympathize with the bereaved, JUST SHUT YOUR TRAP!!
Uncouth nincompoop.

BalakaGuy
BalakaGuy
9 years ago

Nurses should take care of the baby throughout,it is their duty,if there is a cadre in which the owners desert most is the nursing cadre,so tell them to look after that baby,analumbira kugwira ntchito imeneyo,asamathamangire kugwira ntchito za eni ake ayi,makamaka ma male nurses,nde onyinyirika ndi job yawo,ngati munthu anachita kuwakakamiza kukapanga nursing,ineyo ndi wa chipatala,so am talking through exprience,ndipo civil reform ya Hon Chilima ayiwunike bwino nkhani imeneyi,amafuna ati kuti akhale ma matron,pamene matron ndi wa mkazi,iwowo amati kaya akhale patron(male) kondani ntchito yanu anamwino a chimuna.mwamvatu.

saidi
saidi
9 years ago

Very sad indeed

Arthur G.M. Mtambo
9 years ago

VERY SORRY AND SAD NEWS —— + R I P +

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