Metro

Nigerian Woman In UK On Trial For Starving Son To Death

Published

3 years ago

April 28, 2023

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.

They were not seen by healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 lockdown.

In February 2020, a police officer was called to a noise complaint by Olabisi’s neighbour and attended her room, which he described as “clean and warm”.

Taiwo was seen playing loudly and appeared “very energetic” and healthy, Mr Donnison said.

Police searched the property after Taiwo’s body was discovered on June 29 and found a note on food in a fridge, stating: “Do not touch anything, whooping cough, virus, save yourself.”

Olabisi wrote a series of notes while in an ambulance and in hospital, stating she was “very hungry” and “can’t stand up” as well that Taiwo was dead, Mail Online reports.

Olabisi told a police officer in hospital: “I don’t eat, I can’t cook, because of coronavirus I can’t go and buy food.”

Doctors found Olabisi was suffering delusions and she was sectioned under the Mental Health Act 1983 on June 30 2020, with detention in hospital still ongoing for her to receive treatment.

The jury has been told it is not disputed that Olabisi, who was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and moved to London in 2011, neglected her son but the issue is her state of mind at the time, according to Mail Online.

As Olabisi’s trial continues, the court will have to decide whether Olabisi may have been insane, which would make her not guilty of charges against her by reason of insanity.

Caroline Rees KC is expected to open the defence case for Olabisi, who denies manslaughter and two counts of child cruelty, on Thursday afternoon.

Metro

I Provide Four Square Meals A Day For My Wife, Man Tells Court

Published

2 hours ago

December 6, 2025

Editor

A commercial mototrcyclist, Malam Isma’il Abubakar, has told a Shari’a Court sitting at Magajin Gari, Kaduna State, that he provides ‘four square meals’ for his wife every day.

Isma’il made this known while responding to his wife, Zainab Saleh’s allegations that he does not provide food for her.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), she also alleged that her husband does not respect her parents.

She said she was done with their 10-year marriage and wanted divorce.

Isma’il, however, prayed the court to give him time to settle the dispute with his wife.

The judge, Malam Malam Anas Khalifa, asked Zainab to provide witnesses who can testify to her claims.

He ordered the couple to present their parents or guardians in court.

Metro

Court Dissolves Marriage, Orders Man To Pay N30,000 Per Month For Kids’ Food

Published

2 hours ago

December 6, 2025

Editor

An Area Court at Centre-igboro, Ilorin, Kwara State, has dissolved the nine-year-old marriage between a woman, Bilikis Abake and her husband, Kehinde Bintin, over claims of domestic violence.

Delivering judgment, the presiding judge, Mr Idris Etsu, held that the respondent, had sent a letter to the court through the bailiff, releasing his wife.

Etsu, consequently, dissolved the marriage between both parties, but ordered the woman to observe three months iddah (waiting) period, before she could remarry again.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the court awarded custody of the two children of the marriage, who are eight-year-old and six-year-old, to their mother.

The court ordered the respondent to pay the sum of N30,000, as monthly maintenance fee.

He held that the father should be responsible for his children’s school fees, and should be allowed unrestricted access to his children, except at odd hours.

Metro

‘My Husband Kept Coffin Under Our Bed, Planned To Use Our Child For Ritual’

Published

2 hours ago

December 6, 2025

Editor

In a chilling case that shocked Matero Local Court, Zambia, 36-year-old woman from Chisamba has been granted divorce from her husband, whom she accused of attempting to sacrifice their two children.

Bertha Mumbi told the court that her husband, Abel Ngoma, 46, of Chibombo, allegedly plotted to kill their two daughters—aged 11 years and 7 years as part of ritual instructions he received from a witchdoctor in 2021.

According to Zambia Observer, testifying before the magistrate, Lewis Mumba Bertha said that Abel even made a small coffin in preparation for the supposed death of their firstborn and kept it in their bedroom for four consecutive nights after she refused to participate in the scheme.

“By then, he had already made a small coffin in readiness for the death of my firstborn. He never told me about the coffin he made. We slept for four days with it under our bed,” she said.

Bertha said the plan was brought to light by the witchdoctor’s informant, who approached her to demand compensation for cancelling the agreement, since she had refused to consent to the sacrifice.