A 20-year-old woman, Ganiyat Salawudeen, is currently in police
custody after she was arrested for throwing her five-month-old baby
inside a well, where she was residing in her mother’s family house at
Alagolo area, Oja Oba, Ibadan.
According to information gathered
by Crime Features, Ganiyat threw the baby, whose name was given as
Timothy Odugbemi, into the well at about 8.30p.m. on Monday November 5,
after which she raised the alarm that she could not find her baby.
After
a search by family members and neighbours, which extended till the
following morning, Ganiyat was reported to have confessed to throwing
the baby inside the well after much prodding. People were said to have
rushed towards the well to see if it was true and it was a shocked
crowd which beheld the still body of the tot when he was brought out of
the well.
On hearing about the incident, the Divisional Crime
Officer in charge of Mapo Division, Mr Bayo Ogundiran, reportedly led a
team of detectives to the scene and arrested the mother, while the baby
was taken to Adeoyo Hospital, Yemetu, where he was confirmed dead. He
was thereafter deposited in the mortuary for autopsy.
After
preliminary investigations at Mapo Division, the case was transferred to
the State Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku for further
investigations, while many continued to wonder what could have pushed
the young lady to commit such an act against her own son.
However,
while speaking with Crime Features, Ganiyat said she could not also
explain what made her throw her baby in the well, expressing the belief
that forces greater than her must have overwhemed her at that moment.
Narrating
how the incident occurred, Ganiyat said: “On that day, I bathed the
baby in the evening, changed his clothes and we both went to bed. About
8.30p.m., I rose from the bed, carried the baby and took him to the back
of my room window where the well is situated.
“A spirit just came
over me and asked me to throw the baby inside the well. I pushed the
planks on the well aside, threw the baby inside and covered it again.
After
some time, I told the tenant living in the house that I could not see
my baby. He said he saw me moments before with the baby. I left my
residence for my parents’ place at Oniyanrin area and told my mother
that I could not find my baby but she kept asking me where I kept the
child.
“The following morning, many people came and were shouting
at me, asking me where I threw the baby. An elderly man in our family
then came to me, cajoling me to tell him where the baby was. Then I told
him that the baby was in the well. While some people rushed towards the
well, others started beating me with horsewhip, cane and different
objects. When the baby was brought out, he was already dead. A police
patrol van came and I was taken to the police station.”
Ganiyat,
who said she was an apprentice learning fashion designing, disclosed
that she was impregnated by one Kenhide Odugbemi, who was already
married, and that she delivered the baby on June 4. She added that the
man could not be traced until the day of the naming ceremony when he
came in the evening to christen the child. She said Odugbemi also came
on June 12 to give her N1,000, adding that that was the last time she
set her eyes on him.
Ganiyat was said to have given birth to a boy
before the birth of the deceased baby but could not get any man to
claim the child. The boy, who is said to be three years old, is being
taken care of by Ganiyat’s mother.
The case is still under investigation at State CID, Iyaganku.
Source: tribune
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