The stepfather Magaji Dansale, who had confessed to committing the crime, married Hauwa’s mother after she separated from the deceased’s father.
Confirming the sad development to journalists on Thursday, Katsina State Commissioner of Police Usman Abdullahi said:
“It is very sad and unfortunate. The seven-month-old baby girl, Hauwa Ibrahim, raped by her stepfather died this morning. The case will now change from rape to homicide . The culprit, Dansale will appear in court as soon as investigation is completed on the incident. It is very ,very sad.”
Quoting some sources, PUNCH said that the deceased had earlier undergone successful surgery at the Turai Umar Yaradua Maternity and Children Hospital, Katsina, before the complications which resulted in her death.
The victim’s biological father, Ibrahim Nuhu, had earlier said the baby’s mother complained to him that the baby had pile, causing her to bleed from her private parts and anus. On further inspection at the General Hospital, Malumfashi, doctors confirmed it was a case of rape and insisted on police involvement.
The baby’s mother said she once woke up to find traces of blood and liquid in her baby’s private parts and the following day, the suspect gave her clothes to wash, including trousers stained with blood and semen.
Dansale, a father to six children with his late wife, was then arrested. Speaking in Hausa on why he committed the heinous crime, Dansale said:
I had sexual intercourse with the baby girl because I saw it in several dreams I had that it was the way for me to become successful in life. I dreamt that all my suffering in life would end. This is why I did it.
I truly believed that if I had sexual intercourse with her, all my predicaments would vanish. I would not have to run around to make ends meet anymore.
