By Tokpa M. Tarnue tarnue82@gmail.com
Voinjama, Liberia– From Monrovia to the hinterland, Liberia is bedeviled by numerous weird happenings ranging from rape of kids, to murders, suicides and other cases of domestic and other forms of violence.
For instance, in just two weeks, www.newspublictrust.com has reported two stories of alleged suicide being committed by teenagers—a female and male—in Bong and Lofa Counties.
One of such cases of domestic violence that turned fatal happened in Lofa last August. The 24 years old mother Boweh Koifee, who many weeks ago, allegedly murdered her day-old male child in this northwestern County, might just go scot-free due to what health authorities in the county have described as “depression”.
According to reports from the mental health division at the Lofa County Health Team, family members of the woman disclosed that their 24-year-old daughter has been suffering from a form of depression locally referred to here as “open mode”.
Here, this is a common but serious medical illness that negatively affects one’s mood/temperament–the way a person thinks, feels or acts.
Local health workers here say fortunately, it is also treatable and that this form of depression causes feelings of sadness and/or a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed.
The 24-year-old mother, who was charged by the police in Kolahun and brought to the Tenth Judicial Circuit Court in Lofa’s capital, Voinjama, was later taken into the traditional “sick bush” following an appeal from family members based on a medical report from the mental health team in the county.
This situation many here believe is a clever attempt to set free the perpetrator.
Local health workers here say fortunately, it is also treatable and that this form of depression causes feelings of sadness and/or a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed.
The 24-year-old mother, who was charged by the police in Kolahun and brought to the Tenth Judicial Circuit Court in Lofa’s capital, Voinjama, was later taken into the traditional “sick bush” following an appeal from family members based on a medical report from the mental health team in the county.
This situation many here believe is a clever attempt to set free the perpetrator.
Ms. Boweh Koifee, the 24-year-old mother of three, reportedly committed the act in Nyandimoilahun Town during the morning hours of Thursday, 9 August, 2018, hours after giving birth to a male infant.
After she delivered the child without medical assistance or midwifery supervision, she later used a silver blade kitchen knife with a black handle and plucked out the left eye of her few-hours-old child, according to the police investigation.
Boweh admitted to the commission of the crime, confessing to police investigators that she murdered the child because she was abandoned by her husband, who she claims abandoned her in the name of finding a contract for their survival.