Afi Fiaku – the mother of the 42-year-old woman who allegedly stole a one-year-old baby in Takoradi – has explained to DAILY GUIDE what might have forced her daughter, Mawusi Rose Fiaku, to purportedly commit the crime.
According to the mother, incessant pressure from Rose’s boyfriend, Lawrence Lartey on her daughter to give birth to a son at all costs might have contributed to the issue at stake.
Afi Fiaku, a soap maker at Effiakuma near Takoradi, claimed that Lartey impregnated her daughter but never set eyes on the 33-year-old mason until the incident occurred.
“The man did not bother to look for the family members of the lady she had impregnated and allegedly travelled,” she claimed.
“Unfortunately, my daughter had a miscarriage and that adversely affected her health and so I had to take care of her,” she revealed.
In an interview, Madam Fiaku, told DAILY GUIDE at her residence at Effiakuma that when the boyfriend returned from his purported trip, her daughter could not tell her she had a miscarriage and made him believe that she had given birth.
“So Lartey, a Togolese, started putting pressure on my daughter and would sometimes beat her up and ask her to bring the child. So Rose had to go for the children of her own friend at the market and present one to the boyfriend as their child,” she claimed.
She continued: “Immediately the child was sent to Lartey, who is a Muslim, the first thing he should have done was to find out from us whether Mawusi really had a child. If he had come to see me, I would have told him my daughter had a miscarriage.”
Madam Fiaku claimed if her daughter really wanted to steal the baby, she would have travelled to another place outside Sekondi-Takoradi with the baby.
Mawusi’s sickness
She claimed the miscarriage affected the psyche of Rose, who was supposed to have been admitted to the hospital the first day she was hauled before court.
“Mawusi was supposed to have been given blood transfusion at the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital in Sekondi the very Tuesday she was put before the Takoradi Circuit Court for child stealing,” she added.
Is She A Seamstress?
Madam Fiaku indicated that her daughter was interested in sewing and wanted to be a seamstress, saying “however, because of her situation, she could not complete her apprenticeship with a seamstress in Takoradi.
Mental Check-Up
It would be recalled that at the court sitting last Friday, Afi Fiaku told the court that her daughter might be suffering from a mental disorder.
The court, therefore, ordered the police to conduct a psychiatric examination on the accused before the next court sitting.
Meanwhile, the alleged boyfriend facing a charge of abetment was granted bail in the sum of GH¢10,000 with two sureties.
The two are expected to reappear on April 26, 2019.
Rose Fiaku pleaded guilty to child stealing but Lartey denied any wrongdoing.
She allegedly stole the one-year-old baby boy from his mother at about 4:30pm in front of the Market Circle Post Office in Takoradi last Friday.
She initially posed as a customer and reportedly asked the mother to allow her handle her two kids to enable her to serve the customers better.
Fortunately, a closed-circuit television (CCTV) of some banks in the area captured the woman, who was cuddling the baby as she moved away from the market.
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