18-year-old girl Who Buried Her Newborn Baby Alive In Akwa Ibom Claims She Didn't Know She Was Pregnant

A teenage girl buried her newborn baby alive a few minutes after delivery in Ifa Ikot Okpon community, Uyo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom state. 

It was gathered that the 18-year-old girl identified simply as Bright, did not want the baby after giving birth, and had to bury her in a shallow grave she dug in a garden inside a compound on Wednesday, February 15, 2023.

Speaking to Premium Times, the girl who lives with her parents in a rented apartment, claimed that she did not know she was pregnant until the moment she gave birth. 

However, from what her father, Okon Ekpenyong and others, who are familiar with the incident, said, it appears she lied.

"My body was paining me. All of a sudden, I now fell down here (pointing at the garden where she buried the baby), I saw a baby coming out of my body. I started crying,''  she said, sobbing.

"The baby was dead. I was unconscious. I dug a small place to keep the baby until my mother comes back, so I can show her,'' she added.

When asked why she didn't take the baby inside the house instead of keeping her in that place, she replied thus; ''I didn't know what to do,"

"I was in shock when I gave birth, she responded, again. There was no one to tell me what." 

In the garden where the baby was buried, there was a white piece of cloth stained with blood discarded at the edge of the tiny grave. Near it, there was a leaf from a plantain tree, which Bright had used to cover the baby while inside the grave.

"Two people who witnessed the incident faulted Bright's claim that the baby was already dead before she buried it.''

A co-tenant in the compound, Matthew, said the baby was still alive before Bright buried it.

"The baby was crying,'' he said.