Windhoek — Sara Kamutushi has been convicted of murdering her new-born child on December 01 2011. The Oshakati High Court found the 28-year-old Kamutushi guilty and she will be sentenced next week.

Kamutushi, from Ohaushombo village in Oshana Region, is said to have given birth to a boy under a tree, 80 metres away from her parents' homestead. She then wrapped the baby in a bed sheet and abandoned the infant. The child was discovered crying by three village boys.

Kamutushi had pleaded not guilty. In her written plea, she explained that she wrapped the baby in a cloth and placed him in the shade of a tree in the hope of a passer-by discovering and taking care of the child.

However, High Court Judge Christie Liebenberg did not accept the explanation, saying the evidence before the court proved beyond reasonable doubt that Kamutushi intended to bring to an end her child's life and that she had acted with direct intent to achieve this result.

Liebenberg said that the court had come to the conclusion that the deceased's death was brought about due to the physical blockage of the airway, which clearly required some physical act to achieve such results.

"When looking at the accused's actions and utterances prior to the death of the child, the accused having been the only person with the deceased at all relevant times, whilst still alive, it seems to me inescapable to conclude from these facts that the accused brought about the death of her own child by suffocating him in a manner unknown to the court," the judge added.

"I accordingly reject her evidence about the child having died in her arms without her bringing about its death," Liebenberg said.