By Tendai Chisiri
BANKET – Police are investigating the disappearance of a 3-month-old baby girl from her home in Banket after the mother was allegedly lured away by an unknown woman on the evening of 7 June 2026.
According to a memo from the Officer Commanding Police Mashonaland West Province, dated 8 June 2026, the incident was reported at ZRP Banket under RRB 6890322.
Linnet Mukombe, 21, told police she was at her home in Banket at around 7:30pm doing house chores. Her two children, a 3-year-old and a 3-month-old baby girl Pianna Mudiwa Kabunga, were asleep inside.
Police say an unknown woman knocked at the window and called the complainant by her daughter’s name, claiming she had seen Mukombe’s husband enter a residence in Banket’s single quarters area. Mukombe left the house unlocked and went to check, but did not find her husband there. She then went to his barber shop in Kuwadzana Township, Banket.
When the couple returned home around 8:30pm, the 3-month-old baby was missing from the bed where she had been left sleeping. Searches by family, neighbours and police followed but the child had not been located by the time of the report. No arrests had been made.
The memo also references an incident on 4 March 2026 at Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital maternity ward where Mukombe says she was mistakenly given another newborn during breastfeeding. Hospital staff apologized and the matter was resolved at that time, with Mukombe reunited with her biological child, according to the police memo.
ZRP Banket attended the scene and made enquiries with neighbours and tenants. Investigations are ongoing.
Police have not released further details to protect the integrity of the investigation and the privacy of the child.
Members of the public with any information about the missing baby are urged to contact ZRP Banket or the nearest police station. In Zimbabwe, tip-offs can also be made anonymously through the police.
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