Must Read! Dog Eats Up Four Months Old Baby In Asaba As Husband Sends Wife Packing
This is a must read for all. especially
mothers. Such a sad end.
Maureen Akowe had every reason to
be elated. At 37, she had a baby girl after three years of delayed conception.
Little wonder, she christened the baby Chinonso (meaning God is near).
Like most Nigerians who belong to
the middle-class, Maureen employed a nanny to help care for her baby, who was
already four months old. As expected of any nursing mother, anytime she took
her baby out with her, her nanny moved along.
Last Friday in Asaba, the Delta
State capital, the nursing mother, who is also a housewife but a graduate of
Sociology from the Delta State University, Abraka, decided to get groceries for
the family especially her baby, at a nearby supermarket along Okpanam road,
Asaba. She took along her baby, her nanny and an Alsatian dog, which was the
only pet the family had.
For anyone who loves pets, it is
not strange to see them, not only as companions, but as friends in need.
Maureen must have loved her dog and decided entrusting the security of both her
baby and its nanny in the care of her dog. Maybe she had done that on a number
of occasions and nothing negative happened.
On this fateful day when she got
to the shopping mall, she pulled over at the car park and left all the occupants
of the car, including the dog, to get items inside the mall. For proper
ventilation, she wound down the windows of the car and dashed inside.
While she was shopping, sources
at the car park said there was a shrill cry from the nanny, who suddenly alighted
from the car and ran into the mall shouting, “Madam, baby! Madam, baby!”
Panic-stricken passers-by and other shoppers asked what was amiss and she led
them to the car.
By then, a motley of crowd had
gathered and running towards the car park. The gory sight in the car elicited
shouts from them especially the women. Four-month-old Chinonso, had its stomach
ripped open with blood splattered on the car seat and the clothes used to wrap
it. The dog, on the other hand, stood towering over the baby with blood stains
on its mouth!
Taken aback by the crowd, the dog
started barking ferociously and wanted to attack. Promptly, two security guards
from the mall took the dog and chained it. It still kept barking and tried to
scare away any attacker from the crowd.
“Na Madam carry dog put for car
and talk say make I stay inside car with dog and baby,” the nanny, who
identified herself as Ifeoma Chinedu, quickly told the angry crowd who wanted
to know what went wrong inside the car.
“Madam talk say she dey carry dog
go veterinary clinic. Na as I sit inside car the dog move close and want to
bite Chinonso (baby). I shout when I see say the dog open him mouth. As I
shout, the dog no hear me and I come run comot make I go call Madam. But she
dey inside supermarket and no hear me. She no come outside here on time,” the
nanny, who claimed to hail from one of the eastern states, concluded in tears.
While all these went on, the
mother of the baby had arrived and was in tears. Obviously distraught, she
rolled on the floor and kept shouting, “Chinonso!Chinonso! Chinonso!” She
quickly took her baby and ran. But some sympathisers took hold of her and the
baby to avoid running into any oncoming vehicle. They rushed the baby, who was
bleeding from the stomach, to a nearby hospital along Nnebisi road.
The baby died before they could
get to the hospital.
Meanwhile, the dog was in chains
and kept away from the angry mob who wanted to kill it. They alleged witchcraft
and that the dog was an evil agent.
When Sunday Punch visited the
family house of the Akowes, sympathisers thronged the place. Patrick Akowe,
father of the deceased four-month-old baby, who is a car dealer in Asaba,
alleged that his wife killed the baby. According to him, Maureen had a
premonition on July 13, 2015, of what the dog did to their baby.
“My wife had told me of a
horrible dream she had of the dog she brought to this house,” he narrated
tearfully.
“She said in the dream, the dog
and the baby were seen on a big tree playing and all of a sudden, the dog
kicked the baby from the tree and the baby fell and died. I screamed when she
told me this dream and warned that the dog should be removed from the house.
Few days later, my wife’s aunt, one Madam Beatrice Okonkwo, visited the house
and while our interaction lasted, she claimed the dog was a guardian angel and
on no account should the dog be sent out. After a while, I told my wife that
the dog had started behaving in funny ways and should be taken away from our
home but she said she would take it to the veterinary doctor for treatment.”
For a couple who had waited three
years after marriage before having a baby, Akowe’s pains could not be imagined.
the distressed father added, “I
was in my office when I got a call that a dog had eaten my baby at the
supermarket. Initially, I was confused and when I saw everything, I decided
that I have nothing to do with Maureen, my wife, again. That was her first and
only child and because of the confession made by her relations indicating a
witchcraft activity, I see the death of my baby as mysterious. I do not think I
can have anything to do with her again.
“My wife said it is the devil’s
work and the devil has succeeded in taking her out of my house. I have warned
her about the dog but she did not listen.”
However, neither the distraught
mother nor any of her relatives in Asaba could be contacted as of the time of
filing this report. She had packed out of her matrimonial home.
Police Public Relations Officer
in the state, Mrs. Celestina Kalu, said the woman (Maureen) was earlier
interrogated. “She claimed that she was taking the dog to the vet for treatment
when it wreaked havoc on her baby. We are still investigating the incidence
while the dog is being kept in police custody for further investigation. We
really want to know the root cause of the incident,” she said.
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