Bauchi: Mother of six dumps day old baby in soak-away to “prevent her from suffering”
A mother of six who couldn’t bear to watch her day old baby suffer decided to dump her in a soak-away.
Juliana James, an indigene of Shendan LGA of Plateau State, reportedly took the decision shortly after she was delivered of her sixth child.
The newborn was found and rescued by neighbours nearly 12 hours after she was dumped by her mother.
Juliana lives with her husband and children in a one-room apartment in Guru village, Bauchi. The husband was not aware of his wife’s plan, reports say.
She was paraded at the Police Command Headquarters in Bauchi, where she regretted her action.
“Things are hard. My husband has no job. He had an accident three months ago he is still in the hospital ago and the situation became worse for us. We don’t see food to eat. We were dying of starvation,” she reportedly said amid sobs.
“I delivered at home and threw the baby in the toilet because I don’t know how we are going to take care of it. I didn’t tell my husband.”
A source said Juliana had been a hardworking woman who supported her family with her bean-cake (akara) business, until recently.
“She was a hardworking mother who fried bean-cake in the neighborhood but for some time now, during her pregnancy, she had not been coming out,” the source said.
“May be the recession took its toll on her.”
Juliana’s baby had been taken to the Abubakar Tafawa University Teaching Hospital for medical attention.
