LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – 42-year-old Nigerian woman, Olabisi Abubakar, from Cardiff, is facing trial in the United Kingdom for manslaughter and child cruelty relating to the death of her three-year-old son, Taiwo Abubakar.
According to Mail Online, Olabisi, the alleged killer of her three-year-old son through religious fasting, told the Police she had locked herself away, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
She is being tried on a two-count charge before the Cardiff Crown Court.
It was further learnt that the Police forced entry to her flat in the Cathays area on 29 June, 2020, after a friend raised concerns for her welfare.
The defendant was reportedly thin, malnourished, dehydrated, and found lying on a sofa bed next to the body of her son, Taiwo.
Pathologist, Dr Stephen Leadbetter, sent the report on Olabisi’s weight, which Cardiff Crown Court revealed as 9.8 kilos (22 pounds), finding that the deceased death was caused by malnutrition and dehydration.
Olabisi was sectioned on 30 June, 2020 and has remained detained in hospital, where she is being treated for paranoid schizophrenia, Daily Mail reports.
The prosecutor, Peter Donnison, told the court that Olabisi was deemed fit for police interview in October 2020 and was interviewed by officers on eight occasions.
In one interview, according to Donnison, Olabisi described: “the effect on her of the pressures of not having help, fearing coronavirus for herself and her child, and her immigration status.”
“She described them as depressing. She said she was a religious woman and prayed to God and believed he had heard her and answered prayers and kept them safe,” Mr. Donnison said.
