One
Moses Otimba, a 47-year-old man from Ogbogoro community, Yenagoa,
Bayelsa State , has been accused of impregnating his wife’s younger
sister, Joy Matthew and killing the baby...
He
was said to have allowed her carry the baby for nine months ,before
asphyxiating and burying the five-day-old beside the sea shore in
Yenagoa.
Otimba,
the police said, took 18-year-old Joy to a traditional birth attendant
where the baby was born, before he, along with the teenager collected
the baby five days later, moved across the Swali bridge, killed him and
buried him in a shallow grave.
Two months later the young girl was said to have confessed to her mother who reported the incident to the police.
The
two suspects were paraded yesterday by the Commissioner of Police,
Bayelsa State Command, Mr. Asuquo Amba, at the command’s headquarters in
the state capital.
Amba said policemen from Yenagoa Police Division arrested the suspects, who confessed to the murder.
”Mr.
Moses Otimba, male, 47, impregnated one Joy Matthew, 18, a younger
sister to his wife, Glory. The pregnant Joy was delivered of the baby by
a traditional birth attendant at Amarata, Yenagoa on May 8, 2017.
”On
May 13, 2017, Moses, Joy and the baby left the birth attendant and went
across Swali bridge where Moses took the baby from her mother (Joy),
went down the river shore, snuffed the baby to death and buried him in a
shallow grave.”
Amba
said Joy, who claimed to be under the influence of ”some spirits”,
disclosed the incident to her mother some months after the act.
He
added that the police visited the scene of the incident , stressing
that by the time they got to the scene, the currents of the river had
washed off the child’s body.
”The
suspect, Moses Otimba, has confessed to the crime and Joy Matthew has
also confessed on her alleged involvement in the murder of the baby.
Investigation is ongoing”, the police chief said.
But
Otimba in an interview admitted that he killed the baby boy because he
was ashamed to face his wife (Glory) and his mother-in-law.
He confessed that he killed the baby with the consent of Joy, after discussing his predicament with her.
Otimba
said: ”I killed the baby boy because I was afraid and scared. I did not
really know how to face my wife and my mother-in-law. That was why I
killed the baby. I am really sorry.
”I
took the baby to the bush in my community and closed his nose until he
died. When I was carrying out the act, I was weeping and crying but I
had no choice.
”When
I got to the site, he was five days old then, I closed his nose and
within some seconds, he stopped breathing. After that, I started
regretting.
”The
mother of the baby agreed that we should kill the baby. I told Joy that
the situation was precarious for me and that I did not know how to tell
my wife about the development.
”On
that day, she was carrying the baby. She gladly gave me the baby to do
whatever I wanted to do. My wife was not aware of all of this. But
somehow, I did not know what happened. I learnt the baby’s mother told
her mother who alerted the police”
Also
paraded was one Isah Mohammed, 31, whom the police said was in the
habit of killing vultures and selling them as chicken meet.
Meanwhile,
an 11-year old boy was yesterday electrocuted to death in Biogbolo
community, Yenagoa, after he unknowingly picked up a power line that
fell in the area.
The boy identified as Joseph was reported to have died immediately after grabbing the live cable.
THISDAY
learnt that the wire fell after the heavy downpour last week. But
residents of the area claimed they had alerted the Port Harcourt
Electricity Distribution Company (PHED) but they failed to effect the
repair.
Spokesman
of the Bayelsa Police command, Asinim Butswat described the death of
the Junior Secondary School (JSS) student as “ pathetic and
unfortunate.”
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