Child bride kills husband, his friends with poisoned meal
A 14-year-old girl forced to marry a 35-year-old man in Nigeria prepared a celebratory meal laced with rat poison for her new hubby — killing him and three of his pals.
Wasila Umaru said she concocted and served up the deadly recipe because she was forced to marry Umaru Sani, a man she did not love.
The couple was married last week, and the groom had invited a dozen friends to celebrate at his village about 60 miles from the north Nigerian city of Kano over the weekend.
A spokesman for the Kano State Police Command, Musa Magaji Majiya, told the website CKNnigeria that Wasila bought the rodent pesticide known as Shinkafa Bera at a village market for less than a US penny.
The unsuspecting husband and two of his male friends died on the spot shortly after the toxic chow down.
A woman who also shared the food died later at a hospital, where 10 others who also had eaten the meal were treated and released.
Wasila confessed, justifying the killings on the grounds that she was forced to marry an older man she wanted no part of.
“The suspect confessed to the act and claimed that because she does not love her husband, she resorted to taking this option. Corpses were taken to hospital for examination. Investigation is on top gear,” the police spokesman said.
Nigerian news accounts did not disclose which dish she prepared for the party.
Child marriage is common in Nigeria, especially in the mainly Muslim north.
Child marriage is common in Nigeria, especially in the mainly Muslim north.
Majia said Thursday that the teenage suspect is cooperating with police and probably will be charged with culpable homicide.
