47-year-old Moses Otimba pictured above, has been arrested by the Bayelsa state police command for impregnating his wife’s 19-year-old sister, Joy Mathew, and killing the male child five days after birth. The man suffocated the baby boy and buried him in a shallow grave at a river bank in May.
The state Commissioner of Police, Asuquo Amba, who paraded the man and the 19-year-old lady at the command’s headquarters in Yenagoa, the state capital, said;
”Mr. Moses Otimba, male, 47, impregnated one Joy Matthew, 18, a younger sister to his wife, Glory. The pregnant Joy was delivered of the baby by a traditional birth attendant at Amarata, Yenagoa on May 8, 2017. On May 13, 2017, Moses, Joy and the baby left the birth attendant and went across Swali bridge where Moses took the baby from her mother (Joy), went down the river shore, sniffed the baby to death and buried him in a shallow grave.”
Joy confessed to her mother three months after the incident. She claimed she was hypnotized while the act was been carried out by Otimba. Joy’s mother alerted the police after her daughter confessed to her.
”The police visited the scene of the incident. By the time they got to the scene, the current of the river had washed off the child’s body. The suspect, Moses Otimba, has confessed to the crime and Joy Matthew has also confessed on her alleged involvement in the murder of the baby. Investigation is ongoing.” he said
When interrogated, the suspect said he killed his baby because he was ashamed to tell his wife that he had impregnated her younger sister.
”I killed the baby boy because I was afraid and scared. I did not really know how to face my wife and my mother-in-law that was why I killed the baby. I am really sorry. I took the baby to the bush in my community and closed his nose until he died. When I was carrying out the act, I was weeping and crying but I had no choice. When I got to the site, he was five days old then, I closed his nose and within some seconds, he stopped breathing. After that, I started regretting. The mother of the baby agreed that we should kill the baby. I told Joy that the situation was precarious for me and that I did not know how to tell my wife about the development. On that day, she was carrying the baby. She gladly gave me the baby to do whatever I wanted to do. My wife was not aware of all of this. But somehow, I did not know what happened. I learnt the baby’s mother told her mother who alerted the police and we were arrested.” he said
The suspects would be arraigned in court soon.
