Woman confesses to murdering children with husband’s help

Says the father bought poison from a shop which they mixed with food.

MANSEHRA:

Investigations into the alleged murder of three children by the hands of their mother have begun after she confessed to the killings before court on Monday and claimed her husband was an accomplice.

Sultan, hailing from Malkot Bakot, had lodged an FIR on Saturday accusing his wife Asiya Bibi of poisoning his three children, seven-year-old Hashim, four-year-old Sumaira and three-year-old Shumail. In the report, he mentioned he has been jobless for a while and was having constant fights with his wife over their financial problems.

Sultan added he had another fight with Asiya on the day of the incident and before he left the house his wife threatened to kill their children.

When Asiya’s initial statement was recorded, she denied the accusations stating she gave her children ajwayen (dry seeds of a medicinal plant) to cure their colic pain. She later confessed to her crime in the court of Judicial Magistrate Majid Khan admitting she had poisoned her children owing to poverty and disturbed marital relations.



Asiya further said her husband was violent and would hit her if she asked him for money to feed the family.

On Friday morning, the couple had another quarrel when she asked him to bring groceries because there was nothing to cook and the children were hungry. “He instead starting beating me up,” she ruefully said, adding she then asked him to either earn a living or poison their children.

Asiya alleged her husband bought poison from a shop which she mixed with ajwayen and gave to the three.

According to DSP Circle Bakot Hafiz Janas Khan, the accused would have mixed insecticides with ajwayen.

The judicial magistrate, after recording the statements, ordered investigations into the matter. Asiya will be investigated at Mansehra jail where she is currently imprisoned.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2013.