POLICE in Ndola have arrested a 40-year-old MTN employee for allegedly assaulting a neighbour’s four-year-old child who trespassed on her premises on New Year’s Day. Copperbelt Commissioner of Police Charity Katanga confirmed the incident in an interview yesterday. She said Caroline Mumba, 35, reported that her son was allegedly assaulted by Madrine Numwa using a stone.
Mrs Katanga said the incident occurred on January 1, around 20:00 hours in Ndeke, when the child was playing outside the house with his friends while lighting fireworks. She said in an effort to disperse the children, Ms Numwa allegedly threw a stone, which hit the victim on his forehead, resulting in a gash. The suspect has been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and will appear in court tomorrow. She is in police custody. And in an interview, the distraught Mrs Mumba accused Ms Numwa of disliking her son.
She said the incident is not happening for the first time as each time she saw her child playing outside, Ms Numwa would allegedly chase him away or beat him up. “On New Year’s Day, I was with my children from the mall, and when I went to my house, I left my kids playing outside. After a short while, my child came in the house crying that Madrine had hit her with a stone on the head,” she narrated. She said when she accosted Ms Numwa, she was shouted at and was accused of failing to discipline the child.
And on her Facebook page, Mrs Mumba showed a picture of the suspect placed against two passport size pictures of her son, with blood oozing from the wound on the forehead. She alleges Ms Numwa stoned her son, almost killing him, for trespassing on her premises and added that she had enough from her. And some neighbours spoken to said that Ms Numwa was allegedly in the habit of chasing children from her yard. They expressed regret over the incident and urged the law enforcement agencies to deal with the matter fairly