A 21-year-old mother is in police grips for allegedly dumping her day-old baby in a toilet pit at Jasikan in the Oti Region.
She was arrested together with an elderly woman, believed to be her mother, who is said to have aided in the crime.
The incident is said to have happened on Friday, 27 May 2022.
Residents, through their vigilance, noticed the disappearance of the day-old baby and launched a search after confronting the mother of the baby.
The two led the search party to the pit, where the baby was found dead.
The body has since been deposited at the Jasikan Hospital morgue.
The Jasikan police have since commenced investigations into the matter.
Such incidents are not uncommon in various parts of the country, with parents taking such extreme options due to poverty.
Other similar incidences over the years:
- Mother slashes baby’s throat and dumps her on a farm
A 19-year-old mother is said to have slashed the throat of her newborn baby on 8 February 2021.
The suspect, identified as Patience Tetteh, also known as Mommie, who resides at Atanurom, a village near Akyem Otwereso in the Akyemansa District in the Eastern Region, reportedly slit the throat of her day-old baby and dumped the body in a cocoa farm near the village.
She was arrested after leaders in the community reported the matter to the police.
The body of the baby wrapped in a sack was later retrieved from the farm.
- Mother abandons baby at a public toilet
A 38-year-old woman was arrested by the Drobo Police in the Bono Region on 21 August 2020 for allegedly abandoning her day-old baby boy at a public toilet building.
The married woman, Akua Serwaa, reportedly confessed to the police that the baby was born out of an illicit affair.
She said her husband had been away in Dubai, and throwing away the baby was her way of avoiding the shame of her unfaithfulness.
- Mother abandons baby on a refuse dump
A 35-year-old woman, Eunice Brobbey, was arrested on 12 August 2020 for abandoning her newborn baby on a refuse dump in Bediako, a town in the Bono Region.
A woman, who went to dump refuse at the site, rescued the baby.
The infant was later sent to the palace of the town’s queen-mother after nobody came to claim the baby after a series of announcements at the town’s community centres.
Together with the assemblyman for the area, the queen-mother reported to the Mim police and subsequently sent the baby to the hospital.
- Baby left at a public lavatory
Residents of Bremang in the Ashanti Region were thrown into a state of shock on Friday, 10 July 2020, when they discovered a fresh baby at a public lavatory in the town.
The baby girl was found wrapped and dumped in a bin at the facility shortly after delivery.
- Baby dumped into a manhole
A newborn baby was dumped into a public toilet at Mempeasem in Bole in the Savannah Region on 21 July 2020. The newly-born baby was wrapped in a polythene bag and disposed of into a manhole in the public toilet.
- Mother leaves baby at the maternity ward
The Paga District Police Command mounted a search for a mother who abandoned her newborn baby girl at the maternity ward of the Paga District Hospital on 10 April 2019.
According to hospital authorities, the woman, identified as 29-year-old Christiana Akamlu, reported to the facility on 7 April in her second stage of labour and was admitted and safely delivered a baby girl at about 3 pm the same day.