Teenage mum attempts to kill six-week-old baby

A 17-year-old mother last Friday October 12, 2007 attempted to prematurely end the life of her six-week-old baby girl, allegedly out of frustration.

She is said to have wrapped the infant in a piece of cloth, concealed her in a zipped fertilizer bag and pushed it deep under the bed for many hours.

According to police sources, the suspect, Ama Kaya, took that decision because she could not bear the additional burden of taking care of the baby and Kaya's four siblings.

However, the baby was rescued by a co-tenant who, having been attracted by her weak cries, raised an alarm.

Kaya has since been arrested by the police and is in the custody of the Social Welfare Department in Sekondi, while investigations continue. Meanwhile, the baby is on admission at the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital.

Kaya told the Daily Graphic at the hospital, where she was made to breast-feed the baby, that she took the decision to enable her to return to her small-scale mining business, also known as "galamsey", to provide food for herself and her siblings, whose survival depended on her.

The teenage suspect is said to have lost both her parents, who left her four siblings to cater for. She was made pregnant by one of the “galamsey” operators who refused to take responsibility.

The Metropolitan Director of Social Welfare, Mrs Deborah Daisy Kwabia, said the action of the teenage mother resulted from neglect by the man whom she claimed had made her pregnant.