Five-day old baby in polythene bag

Bolgatanga (Upper East) - A 31 year-old unemployed mother, Teni Atoah, who bagged her five-day old baby girl and deposited her on a refuse dump at Daporetindongo, a suburb of Bolgatanga, is in the grip of the Bolgatanga Police, assisting in investigations. The culprit has been granted police bail to enable her take care of the baby until after weaning her baby when she would be due for prosecution for the offence.

The Bolgatanga District Police Commander, Mr. Emmanuel Amamo, told the Ghana News Agency that on 12 July, at about 5am one Frank Agana, a staff of Kingdom Transport Service (KTS) in the company of two others, Wahab Salifu, and Kwabena Simon, found the baby rapped in a polythene bag and crying, so they picked her and reported the matter to the police.

He added that the complainants were advised to send the baby to the Bolgatanga General Hospital, which they obliged. Mr. Amamo said the nurses at the hospital gave the name of the mother of the child as Teni Atoah, who was admitted on 7 July, and discharged four days later. He added that the culprit was consequently escorted to the hospital where the nurses confirmed she was the one.

A source close to Teni's family said she returned from hospital and reported that the baby had died during delivery and was buried by the hospital officials. Not satisfied with Teni's claim, her uncle, one Mr Salam Abongo, followed up to the hospital to enquire about the authenticity of the claim. It was at this point that the nurses revealed Teni's action to him. Teni, who the source said, is married has four children already, and is currently being cared for by her uncle.