WOMAN ABANDONS CHILD IN BUSH (MIRROR, PAGE 34, NOV 20, 2010)

From Joe Okyere, Twifo Praso

The Twifo-Praso Police has mounted a search for Ama Teiku who lied to the husband that their two-year-old son was dead. Unknown to John Seidu, Ama had left the child in the bush for almost a week until a farmer chanced upon him.
The 35-year-old farmer, Mr Alfred Owusu, found the child from the tragic scene at the “Topp Plantation,” a suburb of Twifo-Praso in the Twifo Hemang Lower Denkyira District of the Central Region.
According to the police, the farmer said he was going to his farm that morning, November 1, 2010, when he heard the voice of a baby shouting mama, mama so he was initially scared but later gathered courage and went closer to the direction of the sound.
Mr Owusu stated that upon reaching the scene, he saw the child tied up with a string on both arms and legs lying in the bush helplessly.
According to the district police commander, DSP Cosmos Damoa, the child had been in the bush for close to a week which had made him malnourished and dehydrated due to his denial of food and water. The child had also developed sore at the back and around the head.
DSP Damoah said the father of the child was currently in police custody to help in investigations.
The police commander said Seidu told the police that his wife told him on phone that the child had died.
“I could not go there to see things for myself because I had not performed the marriage rites, which had brought some problems between Ama and I”, Seidu explained.
“We are entreating the mother of the child to report herself to the police and assist us in investigations,” DSP Damoah stated.
Meanwhile, Mrs Sarah Ampomah, the Nurses Manager at the Twifo-Praso Government Hospital, has assured that the child, now in the care of the hospital, is responding to treatment.