Toddler Dies of HIV after her Mother Dropped her at an Orphanage to Move in with Fourth Lover

Blessing Ochonogor

A 34-year-old man, Paul Jubril, an Edo state indigene, has accused his girlfriend, Blessing Ochonogor, 28, of killing their 2-year old daughter.

Jubril, who returned from prison in January 2017, said that he discovered that Blessing, a Benue state indigene, had fled their apartment on Jaja Street, in the Kubwa area of Abuja, with their two kids. He said she moved into the house of another man.

Speaking to Sun at the police station, Paul said,

“I went to Suleja prison. When I came back in January 2017, I couldn’t find my wife and two kids. It was later I heard that my daughter Ifeoma was at an orphanage home at Arab Road, Kubwa Abuja. I remember we had a misunderstanding in 2015 but I didn’t know she would pack out of the house with our two children, Peter who is seven years old and Ifeoma who is two years and three months.”

According to the police, Blessing had two children for two other men before moving in with Paul. Police findings also revealed that she took 2-year old Ifeoma to an orphanage home where she lied to them that the baby’s parents had died. After dropping the baby at the orphanage, she was said to have moved in with another of her suitors.

Ifeoma fell sick not long after she was dropped at the orphanage. Efforts by the orphanage to treat the baby led to the discovery that she had been infected with HIV.

This prompted officials to search for the woman who brought the baby. When the baby was eventually returned to her, it was almost too late as she died soon after.

Paul said he reported the case at the police station upon discovery that his child was diagnosed of HIV.

“I have to report the case at Kubwa phase 4 police station Abuja. I didn’t believe that my child could die of HIV. When I was going to prison in December 2016, my child was in good health. I don’t know why my child will die of HIV. I don’t have HIV, likewise, my seven years old son, Peter Smith. I want to know the cause of death of my child. My child is now at the mortuary at Kubwa General Hospital. Before I bury my child, I am still insisting to know what killed her. It is my girlfriend who is responsible for the death of my child,” the angry father lamented.

In her own account, Blessing told Sun that she was not legally married to Paul, adding, “myself and Paul Jubril merely had boyfriend and girlfriend relationship. Suddenly, I discovered I have got two children for him.”

While justifying why she had to move out of Paul’s home, she said:

Whenever I have a quarrel with my boyfriend, he used to beat me to a state of coma. When I couldn’t bear it anymore, I have to pack out from the house to sleep in an uncompleted building for three days.

When I could not bear it, I took my child Ifeoma to the orphanage home at Arab Road, Kubwa Abuja. I deceived them that the parents of the child are dead. It’s true, I didn’t go there to check my child, and I went only once. Later, I went to marry another man.

Suddenly, the orphanage home called me that the child I brought to them was ill. I refused to go there initially but later I went and took the child to Gwarinpa General Hospital and they diagnosed her of HIV and we were referred to the National Hospital but in the process the baby died on December 2016.

I never killed my child. It was frustration that prompted me to take the child to orphanage home. My Father and Mother are not living together. There is nobody I can handover my child to when I was in predicament. Since I am no longer with my boyfriend, he has threatened to kill me. Since the death of my child, my boyfriend has been accusing me of killing our child with HIV.

It is not possible to kill my own daughter. When life is so difficult for me, I have to marry another man. My boyfriend didn’t give us rest of mind since he came back from prison. My boyfriend has frustrated my life and I am not going back to his house again.