A 23-year-old woman in Milenge District in Luapula Province has allegedly committed Filicide after she allegedly murdered her four-year-old son for an unknown reason.

Luapula Province Chief of Operations Hildah Banda confirmed the development in an interview and named the suspect as Melinda Mwale of William village in Chief Sokontwe’s chiefdom.

Ms. Banda in an interview on Sunday said the suspect allegedly threw her son, Frederick Bwalya, into the Luapula river at 20:00 hours on 15th October 2022.

She however added that Mununshi Village Headman Reeves Muyambuta on receiving the bizarre incident reported the incident to Milenge Police Post.

“The body of the deceased has been retrieved and deposited into Milenge District Hospital mortuary awaiting postmortem. The suspect has been arrested and a docket has been opened,” she explained.

Filicide is a legal term for a deliberate act of a parent killing their own child. The word can refer both to the crime and to the perpetrator of the crime.