A young teenage wife who was jealous of the first wife has poisoned the woman’s baby out of deep hatred.
A
17-year-old housewife has confessed after poisoning her stepson in
Bauchi state. The woman identified as Hindatu Abdullahi said she
attempted to kill her rival’s two-week old baby because of the deep
hatred she had for her husband and his first wife – the baby’s mother.
According
to Punch, Hindatu who hails from Wuro Bogga village, Duguri District of
Alkaleri Local Government Area of Bauchi State, said she had been
married to her husband, Abdullahi Ori, for two years.
Speaking in
an interview with newsmen while being paraded at the Bauchi State
Police Command headquarters on Wednesday, she said her father forced her
into the marriage when she was just 15 years old.
She said:
“My husband and I have been married for two years now and we have a
child. He married me as his second wife. He used to love me dearly, but
he suddenly started maltreating me.
“He would beat me, insult me
and abuse me at the slightest provocation. I reported his maltreatment
to my parents all the time, but they have never believed what I told
them, since it was their idea for me to marry him.
“My father forced me to marry him, against my wish. I have been staying in my husband’s house just because of my parents.”
Abdullahi,
who sobbed while she spoke to newsmen said: “I have not been in good
terms with my husband and my rival. We are always fighting. I don’t know
why I did what I did, but I regret it.
“Whatever punishment
that will be given to me should be done, but every time I remember my
action, I keep regretting doing what I did.
According to the
mother of one, her husband travelled to Saudi Arabia for the ongoing
hajj; and when her rival went out, she went into her room and took her
baby to her own room.
After that, she added, she administered what was suspected to be poison on the infant, but the baby didn’t drink it.
“I quickly removed his clothes and cleaned the poison with it. I became very confused, realising what I had done,” she said.
Abdullahi said further that the baby was then rushed to the hospital and the nurse said the baby did not swallow the poison.
“My
siblings took me to my co-wife and I apologised to her and she said she
has forgiven me; but she left everything to God to judge.
“They called my husband on phone and told him and he vowed to divorce me when he returns from his pilgrimage,” she added.
She
claimed that she was given 80 strokes of the cane after her husband’s
brother insisted that she must be punished for her crime.
“He
(my husband’s brother) took me to a vigilance office in our area and
they gave me 80 strokes of the cane besides the tax they placed on my
father, which he paid.
“My husband’s brother said he wasn’t
satisfied with the punishment I was given, so he took me to the Police
Station at Maina Maji, where I spent two nights before they brought me
here” (Bauchi State Police Command headquarters)” she said.