A 20-year-old woman allegedly flushed her newborn baby down a toilet in Anambra State, southeast Nigeria.
The suspect, Chidinma Nwaedoka, was said to have intentionally carried out the act on Sunday in Otuocha, a community in the Anambra East local government area of the state.
Chidinma Ikeanyionwu, a press assistant to the state Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Ify Obinabo, revealed this in a statement on Tuesday.
Ikeanyionwu said the baby had been rescued from the toilet, which was still under construction at the time of the incident.
Ms Nwaedoka, the suspect, hails from the Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, another southeastern state.
How was the baby rescued?
in a video clip Attached to the statement, Esther Omesi, a farmer and friend of the suspect, told Ms. Obinabo that the suspect, who was pregnant, had requested to stay at her house for a few days because of a farm job she got.
Ms Omesi said that after agreeing to her request, the suspect told her on Sunday that he had had an upset stomach and therefore went to his well bathroom ostensibly to relieve himself, but spent a long time in the well.
“After a while, he came out with blood dripping from his body. I asked her what happened to her and she told me that it seemed that her baby had moved. I then called a nurse and told her I don’t know what was happening to my guest.
“The nurse checked her and said there was no baby in her stomach anymore. I felt that the baby probably died. She (the suspect) then said that she wanted to leave today (Tuesday) to tell the people of her village what happened,” she narrated in the Igbo language.
“Later today (Tuesday), when I got to the bathroom, which was uncovered, I heard a cry like a baby. I was surprised. I called my niece who I’m staying with to check the hole and determine what she was screaming at. Then I looked into the well and saw that it was a baby and I started screaming for help,” said Ms Omesi.
He said that people gathered and helped rescue the baby from the well, adding that the suspect, during questioning, admitted that she threw the baby into the well.
Commissioner’s intervention
Ikeanyionwu said Obinabo, the commissioner, was quick to intervene when the incident was brought to her attention.
Ms. Obinabo immediately took the newborn to Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Amaku, Awka for treatment and subsequently arrested the suspect.
The commissioner, according to the statement, denounced the increasing crime rate among women in the state and maintained that the latest suspect would not go unpunished.
He stressed that Anambra State Governor Charles Soludo’s administration has zero tolerance for such an “inhumane and cowardly act” and assured that his ministry would handle the case appropriately.
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