Police in Dedza have arrested a man for killing his one month-old baby while beating up his wife who had denied him sex.

The man was demanding sex from his wife, Eneless Maliko, who delivered just a month ago and was still in pain from the postnatal experience.

However her attempts to explain to the husband only served to infuriate him. He started beating up the wife who was lying on the same bed as the baby but some heavy blows ended up on the baby who turned collateral damage.

The father, Mbalame Dalirani, 21 from Kumayani village T/A Kasumbu will answer murder charges after the child (name withheld) died around 8pm Wednesday night.

Dedza Police station Public Relations Officer Edward Kabango confirmed the incident saying the baby died after being hit on the forehead by his father who was nabbed later on the night of the incident.

“The suspect is married to Eleness Maliko from the same village. On the said date, the husband wanted to have intercourse with his wife but she refused saying the child was too young for them to start having intercourse. The response did not go well with the husband and as a result a fight erupted.

“Since the deceased was sleeping between them, the man threw a punch aiming to hit the wife but missed instead hit the child on the forehead. The child died on the spot. Matter was reported to the village headman who later reported to police,” Kabango said.

Kabango said results of a postmortem conducted later showed that the child indeed died due to head injuries as a result of the punches.

Gender based violence is not a strange phenomenon in Malawi. Series of campaigns by both government and the civil society have not changed the attitude of perpetrators.

Most registered cases have been blamed on alcohol abuse but it remains unclear whether the suspect was under any alcohol influence.