Court orders woman to be killed for poisoning 3-year-old boy to death

A 24-year old woman has been sentenced to death by a Kumasi High Court for the murder of a little boy, the only child of his mother.

Talata Baana poisoned the three-year boy at Nkawie in the Atwima-Nwabiagya.

She pleaded not guilty to the crime but the seven-member jury returned a guilty verdict before the court presided over by Justice Charles Adjei Wilson.

Chief State Attorney Marie-Louis Simmons, told the court that crime was committed on December 22, 2014.

Bent on seeking revenge for what Baana claimed was a made up story by the deceased’s mother to destroy her marriage, she abducted and took him from Kumasi to Nkawie at about midday on the said day. There, she bought cooked rice for him and gave him an insecticide – Dichlorodiphenyitrichoroethane (DDT) to drink.

The convict, then walked a distance of about 150 meters into the bush with him and left him to his fate.

A farmer, Donald Alabiri, who was returning from his farm saw the boy foaming in the mouth and lying unconscious. He rushed the deceased to the Toase Government Hospital, where he was referred to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) and the attempt by doctors to save his life was unsuccessful.

Baana was arrested, two days later by the Suntreso police, and confessed to the crime, claiming that, it was an act of vengeance.

An autopsy report signed by Dr. Isaac Siaw Lartey, a pathologist at the referral facility, attributed the cause of death to poisoning.

Madam Marie-Louis earlier asked the jury to return a verdict of guilty, arguing that the convict had the intention to murder.

Her counsel, however, pleaded that she was charged with manslaughter but this was rejected.