SHOCKING STORY: MOTHER STRANGLES CHILD TO DEATH

By Akpabio Aniema

Titilayo Oladele (20 years old) recounted how she strangled her two years old son Opeyemi, to death in the Ajagunro, Imota Ikorudu area of Lagos to the Ebute Metta Magistrate court due to the fact that she could not afford a babysitter for him. The suspect who was arraigned on one count murder said she had no one to help her take care of her child after she was impregnated and driven out of him by her parents.

Addressing the court in tears, she said ‘‘I only finished primary six, and did not attend secondary school before I was impregnated. On that Friday night, I attended a vigil and wanted to drop the child there and run away, but I didn’t know what to do’’. So on Saturday morning, I left the place and wrapped him up in a cloth. When I saw that nobody was with us, I put my hand on his neck and started to squeeze it till he died. Each time I squeezed his neck, he cried, but I just kept pressing till he died. I don’t know what entered into me.’’

The magistrate, O. Olatunji, who was obviously shocked by the defendant’s action, said she could have left the child in the church for people to take instead of killing him.

It was indicated that she was arrested the day after the incident on the road and she has been assisting the police in her confessional statements. It was learnt that Titilayo had lost her mother at an early age and her father remarried and she was later driven out of the home by her stepmother. The murder charge read, ‘‘That you, Titilayo Oladele, on November 16, 2013 at Ajagunro, Imota Ikorodu, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did unlawfully kill one Opeyemi Ibrahim, aged two years, by strangulating him to death with your hands and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, Nigeria 2011.’’

The defendant’s plea was not taken and she did not have any legal representation or family member in court. The police prosecutor, Cyriacus Osuji, applied for her remand pursuant to Section 264 of the Administration of Criminal Justice, Lagos State 2011. The magistrate granted the remand request and ordered her to be put in prison pending the Directorate of Public Prosecution advice. The case was adjourned till February 3, 2014, for mention. Source The punch