Nyandemoilahun, Lofa County – A 24-year-old mother has admitted to using a kitchen knife to murder her baby just two hours after delivering at home in Nyandemoilahun town, Kolahun District of Lofa County.
The alleged culprit, identified as Mbowolee Koifee, committed the act in the morning hours of Thursday, August 9, 2018.
She allegedly used a kitchen knife to pluck the baby on his head – just above his left eye – causing him to bleed profusely.
Mbowolee told police that she committed the act due to her boyfriend’s departure from home to “hustle in neighboring Guinea”.
Locals said Junior Kollie, her spouse, had left her for a while to resettle on a gold mine across the border in neighboring Guinea, something Mbowolee that had angered her.
The bleeding baby, just before his demise, was discovered after a community member had gone to make a telephone call around Mbowolee’s house, a spot community members frequent in search of cellular network signal.
Not satisfied with the look on Mbowolee’s face, the concern neighbor sought some answers from her.
But not so satisfied with that answer and aware of Mbowolee’s past of mysteriously losing pregnancy, the neighbor swiftly entered the house and heard the voice of a crying baby at the back of the house in an unoccupied apartment.
“That’s how I saw the baby seriously bleeding from his head and covered up with rice straw and some old cloth in a bucket,’’ the eyewitness said.
Mbowolee had apparently been finding means to take the kid to the nearby pit latrine in an attempt to discard evidence.
But when the baby was found bleeding, he was rushed to the Kolahun Hospital, but gave up the ghost just upon arrival.
Boyfriend didn’t actually leave her for good
Several community members said that shortly after Mbowolee’s husband’s departure to Guinea, she frequently complained to his family, expressing dissatisfaction about his absence.
Family sources say the father of the slain baby boy had assured his wife before his travel that “he was going to take care of all the necessary bills associated with her pregnancy and that there was no need to worry”.
Some of her neighbors confirmed to reporters that before his departure, Kollie, who was a motorcyclist, had sold his only motorbike for L$ 22,000 and left with her (Mbowolee) LD$ 12,000.
Some of the balance money was used to purchase stuffs for his expected new baby. He also left with her 15 gallons of palm oil and a 25Kg bag of rice for her upkeep during his absence.
Several community sources have also informed this paper that she had mysterious lost babies over the years. And Mbowolee herself corroborated these details.
“The other time we started noticing this was when Mbowolee was last seeing pregnant for up to six months. Nobody knows how that pregnancy ended up to date,’’ said one neighbor.
On another occasion, as narrated by Mbowolee herself, she gave birth on the farm and the baby died, but some community members alleged that she buried the baby alive.
Meanwhile, Mbowolee is currently at the mental health department of the Kolahun Hospital undergoing screening.
She was turned over to the local health facility by the police due to her poor health condition, distracting the police from further investigating the incident.
Report by Arthur Kowah, arthurkowah1992@gmail.com
