Mom arrested for abandoning baby to go drinking

The mother of a six-month-old baby has been arrested for child neglect after she left her child with a friend overnight to go drinking at a tavern.

Johannesburg - A-22-year-old mother of a six-month-old baby has been arrested for child neglect and was due to appear in the Ladysmith Magistrate’s court on Tuesday, KwaZulu-Natal police said.

Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbhele said the mother left her child with her friend on Saturday. “It is alleged that she was at Steve Biko street when she decided to go to town and promised to return as soon as she had finished her chores. She then failed to return and so on Sunday the friend reported the matter to the uncle of the baby.”

Mbhele said the baby’s uncle immediately went to the town to search for the mother and he located her at a local tavern where she had been drinking alcohol.

“Allegedly this had happened before and the baby’s uncle got fed up of the mother’s behaviour, he then brought the woman to the Ladysmith police station where a case of child neglect was registered and the suspect was arrested,” said Mbhele.

The baby is currently being cared for at a local hospital.

African News Agency