Police in Dowa District have launched a manhunt for a man suspected to have killed his 1-year-old own daughter.

Dowa Police Public Relations Officer Sub Inspector Gladson M’bumpha identified the suspect as Thokozani Nyirenda while the deceased is Clara Nyirenda, both from Mangulenje Village in the area of Traditional Authority Chiwere in Dowa District.

It is reported that the deceased’s mother Prisca Mathews Nyirenda and the suspect are a couple married for five years and were blessed with the daughter Clara.

It is alleged that on Monday the couple had misunderstandings over a domestic issue and the suspect started beating his wife while carrying the baby (deceased) on her back.

As the suspect was beating his wife, some of the punches landed on the daughter and later the deceased’s sister came to rescue and took the deceased to her house.

After a fight, the deceased’s mother reported the matter to Mvera Police Post and lodged a complaint against her husband (suspect) where she was issued with a medical report for examination and treatment at the hospital.

The deceased spent a night at her aunt’s house and in the morning, her mother went to take her and upon arrival, she found her daughter (deceased) vomiting and took her to Combat Support Battalion Health Centre where she was being treated.

Hours later, medical personnel pronounced the daughter dead as a result of low blood sugar and the matter was reported to Mvera Police Post whereby police detectives took the dead body to Dowa District Hospital for postmortem.

Postmortem conducted confirmed that death was caused due to head injuries.