Teen mom puts new-born in plastic bag, neighbour saves her from certain death

A neighbour and a policeman in southern Zimbabwe saved a new-born baby girl from almost certain death, it was reported.

Mercy Nyoni, 19, gave birth to the child last Thursday in secret, placed her in a plastic bag and closed it inside another bag, according to a report in the Chronicle newspaper.

After burying the bag under a pile of clothes, Nyoni ventured outside the house she was staying in, in a suburb of Bulawayo.

A neighbour saw Nyoni and noticed she did not have "the usual bulge in her tummy".

She alerted a policeman, who quizzed the young mother. Nyoni at first said she'd had a miscarriage.

However when the officer started walking round the house the baby began to cry and was rescued.

Nyoni was arrested and taken to hospital with her child, according to the report.

Police believed the baby was inside the bag for three hours.

Nyoni went on trial in Bulawayo on Monday on a charge of exposing an infant to danger, said the newspaper.

The young mother said she had hidden the fact she was pregnant from her sister and brother-in-law because she was scared.

The infant was reportedly doing well.