A two-year old child was killed in Tanzania’s the Lake Victoria City of Mwanza, after her stepfather strangled the baby to death in what is being described as horrid sexual assault onto the minor.
In connection with the incident, the Police in Mwanza Region are holding in custody both the murder suspect and the child’s mother.
The accused identified as Dotto Maduhu, is alleged to have grabbed the child by force and proceeded to sexually defile her.
However, as the child struggled to free herself, Maduhu resulted in beating the minor to submission, causing the little cherub to suffer serious injuries.
The child died as soon as she arrived at the hospital to which she was rushed after the violent attacks.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Willbroad Mutafungwa confirmed the incident.
Mutafungwa, who is also the Mwanza Regional Police Commander, added that the suspect, Dotto Maduhu, who is the stepfather of the deceased, together with one Anneth Sijaona the woman he was living with has been arrested.
The woman, Anneth, also happens to be the mother of the victimized baby. The two lovebirds are currently being held in police custody where they are undergoing case formalities before being dragged to court to be charged with the crime.
​Some people in mwanza try to insinuate that, under normal circumstances, no adult male can simply pounce on a small child for sex, therefore the incident could have been driven by witchcraft.
The Mwanza incident is just one of the many cases of Gender-Based and Domestic Violence in Tanzania, whose victims are usually women and children.
The Legal and Human Rights Center through their recent reports indicate that there has been an annual average of 26,500 Gender Based Violence attacks against women in Tanzania since 2020.
But also, the center has received cases of more than 32 women who were killed by their partners within the same period, while there have also been 4397 issues related to children being sexually defiled.
According to the LHRC report, some 7263 women were reportedly also violently raped.