An 18-year-old pregnant housewife, Khadija Adamu, has been arrested by the Bauchi State Police Command for allegedly beating her five-year-old step-daughter to death for defecating on herself.

The teenager who was paraded at the Command headquarters on Wednesday, however pleaded for forgiveness and mercy as she did not mean to kill the girl but to correct her.

The state Commissioner of Police, Auwal Muhammad who paraded the suspect before journalists, said the housewife, a resident of the Kandahar area, a suburb of the Bauchi metropolis, was arrested following serious injuries she inflicted on the minor.

“On September 28, 2023, one Abdulaziz Adamu reported at A’ Divisional Police Headquarters that on the same date around 4pm, Adamu, beat up her stepdaughter, Hafsat Garba, and as a result, she sustained serious injuries on her body,” the CP said.

“She said policemen moved the victim to the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi where she was confirmed dead by the medical doctor.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect beat up the victim as a result of alleged pass-stool that spoiled her clothes and she sustained various degrees of injuries on her body,” he added

But while speaking to journalists during the parade, Adamu said:

“How can I kill a child who was like my child? Even though she was my co-wife’s baby, she was also my daughter because she was my husband’s child. What happened was just a mistake and not a deliberate intention to kill,” she said.

“I am also a mother and I am currently four months pregnant with my second child, how can I possibly kill another child? What happened was that this girl defecated on her body and I felt that at her age, she shouldn’t have done that, so I used a USB cord to beat her. It was not as if I had any intention of killing her.

“I didn’t know she would die. I only wanted to correct her. She didn’t die that day I beat her, it was the next day that she died and I felt very sad and unhappy that she died.

“I asked for leniency because everyone has forgiven me. I asked the police to pardon me if not for anything but for the baby I am carrying in my womb since what I did was not a deliberate thing