A woman in Mchinji has abandoned her five children within the ages of 14 to 4 living them destitute and her where about is not yet known.

The woman Stella Banda, who is a witch doctor popularly known as Dr Patuma, left the kids who were born from different fathers with their step father a Zambian Kesha Sakala who also deserted the kids and went back to his country.

According to the oldest daughter of the woman 14 year old Joyce Edward, their mother told the family that she was going for her business errands in Lilongwe in October this year but she never returned.

Joyce said their mother left them in the care of their step father who was unemployed and did nothing for a living but he also abandoned them and went back to Zambia.

“Our step father told us to throw our youngest brother in the toilet, Four year old Innocent who is crippled and does not walk, talk or sit saying he will be a burden to us,” narrated Joyce.

The kids have stopped going to school and have been surviving from food they get from neighbours and sometimes days go by without eating.

A neighbour of the family Patuma Assani told Malawi News Agency (Mana) that the kids once told her that they contemplated committing suicide by putting rat poison in their food to end their misery but she stopped them.

She said some evil minded people took advantage of the situation and forced the kids to sell them mattresses, and a radio at the low price of K800 each.

According to people who know Stella Banda, the woman is also a commercial sex worker and looks well groomed.

Stella Banda also used to sell cellphones around the Mchinji boma and was known to be getting her phones from Mozambique.

At the time of going to the press, the Mchinji Police said they were still investigating the issue and the district Social welfare office were about to take the kids to the hospital for medical attention as the kids looked frail and sickly.

Incidences of parents abandoning their children are not new in Mchinji, reasons for the abandonment include failing to fend for the children’s needs among others, especially this year when there is food insecurity in many households.