Though the woman, who gave her name as Florence, claimed that the dead child was hers, the mob said she could have kidnapped and killed the child for money ritual.
When newsmen arrived the the scene yesterday, the dead child was seen lying by the side of the expressway, with Florence by his side. Two Ghana must go bags were found by her side.
Inside the bags were beverages, detergents and assorted clothes.
Though news making the round earlier had it that the child’s eyes were plucked, but Vanguard discovered that the eyeballs were only popped.
Information gathered revealed that the woman had been sighted in the area with the child strapped at her back for three days.
An onlooker said: “One man in a commercial bus alerted us yesterday that the child strapped at the back was motionless. This attracted some curious passengers of commercial buses that were trapped in this unending gridlock. One of the passengers went close to the woman and shook the baby. Before you knew it, people had gathered around the woman, wanting to set her ablaze. But for the timely arrival of policemen attached to the Rapid Response Squad she would have been dead by now.”
When a source approached the woman , she said: “I am from Umo in Kwale area of Delta State. I was born in Lagos and I have three children. Nothing is wrong with me. This child (pointing to the dead child) is my son. He is the last of my three children. I have a boy and a girl who are in the village. His name is Chidi and he is five years old.
“He has been very sick. In fact, he had fever and needed blood transfusion but I couldn’t afford the money for it. He died three days ago. Before he died, we wanted to travel back to the village. My husband stays in Port Harcourt.”
When asked to give his husband’s telephone number she said: “The paper where I wrote his number has been destroyed by rain. I don’t have any relative in Lagos. I was living under a staircase in one of the shops located in Alaba market. A security man allowed my son and I to sleep there at night. I didn’t steal any baby neither did I kill any child.
“I was carrying Chidi on my back after he died, only for people to gather around me this morning and started beating me. What have I done to deserve this kind of beating? If not for these policemen, they would have beaten me to death.”
Asked what her mission in Lagos was, she said she came to take care of him here. Some people were of the opinion that she was insane but the Police said that would be ascertained in the course of investigation.
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