Sughshater Ushahemba, a young mother from the Mbadyur council ward in the Logo Local Government Area of Benue State, is accused of poisoning her 11-month-old child to death.
According to reports, the police have detained the mother and are looking into why she took her baby’s life.
Community members reported that in the early hours of Saturday morning, the woman was feeding the infant what appeared to be a chemical.
The mother was cited by another source as saying that the infant died early on Saturday morning after developing a high temperature.
It was said that the woman was apprehended during her attempt to bury the child in the wee hours of Saturday.
But according to Paul Pevikyaa, the Logo LGA’s information officer, who spoke with journalists on Monday, the mother had earlier informed people that the infant had become ill at around 12:31 a.m. with a high fever and had passed away after two hours.
But according to the information officer, the woman later admitted to killing her child because the man who had gotten pregnant had left her.
“When the woman was interviewed, she stated that the baby started having a high fever around 12:31 in the morning while they were asleep, and the body was so hot that she had to give up within two hours,” the speaker said.
“She said that the mistake she made was not telling her neighbors at daybreak that this had occurred during the night because there is a strong belief that if you have neighbors, you can at least call them for assistance at night and they can serve as witnesses. She never did, though.
Thus, she tried burying the infant when day broke. The infant weighed eleven months.
Pevikyaa claimed that after people persisted in doubting her account, she eventually admitted the true reason she killed her child.
In the meantime, the Police Public Relations Officer, Benue State Command, SP Catherine Anene, confirmed the incident and stated that the suspect was in custody. The information officer also stated that the young woman claimed she was impregnated by her boyfriend and that after giving birth to a baby girl, the boy abandoned her with the child. “She said she had been suffering with the child, and that is why she poisoned her by giving her chemical that is used to spray grasses,” Pevikyaa said.