A Nigerian woman, Olabisi Abubakar, 42, from Cardiff, is facing trial in the United Kingdom for two counts of manslaughter and child cruelty relating to the death of her three-year-old son, Taiwo Abubakar..
Olabisi, accused of killing her
three-year-old son through religious fasting, told police she had “locked
herself away” during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Mail Online.
She is being tried before the Cardiff Crown
Court where it was revealed that police forced entry to her flat in the Cathays
area on June 29, 2020 after a friend raised concerns for her welfare.
Olabisi, who was thin, malnourished and
dehydrated, was found lying on a sofa bed next to the body of her son, Taiwo.
Cardiff Crown Court heard Taiwo weighed 9.8
kilos (22 pounds), with pathologist Dr Stephen Leadbetter finding his death was
caused by malnutrition and dehydration.
The court heard Olabisi was sectioned on June
30, 2020 and has remained detained in hospital, where she is being treated for
paranoid schizophrenia, Mail Online says.
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.”
Mr Donnison said: “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.
“She had been taking her child out daily but
she had to stop doing that due to the coronavirus. She described herself as
locking herself away due to the coronavirus and her neighbour.”
Olabisi had been having issues with a
neighbour at the property she was living at in Cwmdare Street, Cardiff, and was
an asylum seeker.
The court was told that she is a devout
Pentecostal Christian and fasts as part of her faith.
Prosecutors allege that Olabisi caused her
young son to fast of both food and water along with her, due to fears over the
coronavirus pandemic and personal pressures, according to Mail Online.
However, in police interviews Olabisi
repeatedly denied this and said children should not fast until the age of 12.
Mr Donnison said: “She said she would dry
fast when she wanted to speak to God and hear something from God.
“She said her child did not fast, he did eat,
and she gave him food to eat.”
She told police she had fallen asleep on June
26 and believed she had gone to heaven before being brought back to life when
her neighbour and police officers arrived.
Donnison said: “Olabisi Abubakar said she
couldn’t explain what happened to her. She was asleep on the bed and that is
what she remembered last. She said she believed she was being punished by God.”
In a police interview, Olabisi said: “I saw
myself among the dead in heaven. I was saying, ‘I don’t want to die’. Then I
saw the angels of God and they brought me back to life.”
The court heard a series of facts agreed by
the prosecution and defence in the trial, read by Mr Donnison.
This included evidence that health visitors
saw Olabisi and Taiwo before the pandemic and had no concerns, including in
relation to her religion and religious practices.
إرسال تعليق