A 22-year-old housewife, Harela Uba, has confessed to killing her three-day-old stepson in the Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.
She told Northern City News in Minna on Thursday that an evil spirit drove her into killing her stepson with an insecticide known as ‘Ota Pia-Pia’.
It was learnt that the suspect’s husband, Saidu Uba of Shakodna village in Shiroro, reported the incident to the police.
He told the police that his second wife, Fa’iza, of the same address, went into the bathroom and left her three-day-old baby boy in her room.
Saidu explained that when the nursing mother returned, she discovered a white foamy substance coming out of the mouth of the infant and she immediately rushed him to the General Hospital, Kuta, where a doctor confirmed the death of the child.
In an interview with our correspondent, Harela, who is eight months pregnant, blamed the devil for her decision to kill her co-wife’s son.
The suspect said, “God knows I had no intention of killing him; I didn’t even know when I asked my seven-year-old daughter to administer ‘Ota pia-pia’ on him when the mother left to take her bath. I am eight months pregnant for God’s sake, how could I have done that if not because of an evil spirit in me?
“How do I beg the mother of the deceased to forgive me? Who on earth will believe my story?”
Speaking on the issue, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Muhammad Abubakar, said upon interrogation, Harela confessed to giving her seven-year-old daughter, Khadija, ‘Ota pia-pia’ to administer on the child, which she obliged.
Abubakar said the suspect had since been charged.