Psychiatrist: �Poison Woman� Was Thrice A Patient At Pantang

Psychiatrist: �Poison Woman� Was Thrice A Patient At Pantang A medical Assistant at the Pantang Hospital near Accra, Mr. Aaron Baah, has confirmed that Georgina Akweley Pipson, the 32 year old businesswoman who allegedly killed her five children by lacing their food with poison, was admitted three times to the hospital for psychiatric disorders. Mr. Baah who handled Georgina throughout her admission period said Georgina was first brought to the hospital on August 5, 2009 and discharged on August 24. Her second admission was on August 27, 2009 but she absconded on September 2. �She was back in the mental asylum the third time on October 11, 2009 and was discharged the following day, October 12, but she failed to come for a review a month later as scheduled�, he added. Touching on the history of the patient, Mr. Baah said his enquiry revealed that Georgina attempted suicide three times. He said some weeks after delivery of her last baby, she attempted to kill the baby with a knife and kill herself also. In the second instance, Mr. Baah said, Georgina took her last baby and together lay on a busy street so they could be run over by a vehicle. Mr. Baah said he had a report from the family members that on one occasion, she attempted to kill her mother with a knife, but was restrained. He said when he probed further from Georgina�s relatives whether she had suffered any psychological disorders before, he was told that first occurrence was 14 years ago, for which she was sent to the Accra Psychiatric Hospital where she was treated and discharged. Mr. Baah said the relatives also recalled that Georgina developed some disorders nine months after her second child was born, an indication of what he termed, �post partum� or �puerperal psychosis�, a psychological disorder that affects some women after birth. She was also suffering from schizophrenia, that is a �split of mind� in addition to visual and auditory hallucination, he said. Mr. Baah said the latest time Georgina was sent to the Pantang Hospital, he noticed the frequent mentioning of the name of a tenant in their house whom she kept accusing of not paying electricity bills, nor sweeping the house and performing any household tasks. �She also kept monitoring the name of the husband, expressing a desire to go to him and her children�, Mr. Baah said. Georgina died yesterday at about 4:30a.m at the Police Hospital where she had been receiving treatment. She was admitted to the hospital after she was found almost unconscious at a fitting shop near the Accra Teacher Training College at Madina, Accra. The Director of the Police Hospital, Dr. Godfred Asiamah who briefed Times said Georgina was sent to the hospital in a state of stupor, �a state of lowered consciousness which could not make her communicate, eat, drink or even move her legs or arms�. Georgina was alleged to have killed her five children on Tuesday by lacing their food with poison at Gomoa Nyanyano. The bodies of the five children � Kwaku Osae Asante, 11, Yaw Ofori Asante, 9, Angel Asante, 6, Kofi Asante, 4, and Esi, 1, the only child she had with a different man � are now at the Police Hospital morgue pending autopsy.