EIGHT MONTHS ago, Jeanne Mushimiyimana was blessed with a set of twins. But last week her neighbours woke up to shocking news that she had allegedly killed one of the twins and left the other for the dead. Mushimiyimana, a resident of Kimisagara sector is currently under police custody.

According to Police Spokesperson for Central Region, Superintendent Modeste Mbabazi, Mushimiyimana, who separated with her husband sometime back, went to a local bar in the morning and returned home with a friend whom she told that her baby had been killed. Her suspicious neighbours immediately called Police and that’s how she was detained.

"We have not yet confirmed that she is the one who killed her baby but she is being held at Nyamirambo police station as further investigations are being carried out,” Mbabazi says.

Cases of mothers who kill their own children keep coming up with police saying that over the years such cases have been registered in different parts of the country.

In 2010 Marie Nyiramungu, a resident of Mwurile Sector, Rwamagana District, killed her four children. She later confessed to killing the victims using a machete.  

In another case, in January last year, a 21-year-old resident of Rugendabari Sector in Burera District was arrested for allegedly killing her baby after giving birth. It is said that she gave birth to a baby boy, who she killed and later buried in her parents’ farm a few days after.

But the question that bothers many is why a woman would choose to take the life of a baby they carried in the womb for nine months.

A mother’s love is one of the most uncontested things in life. This perhaps explains the shockwaves that grip any community when a mother takes the life of her own offspring.

According to the Police spokesperson, Chief Superintendent of Police, Celestin Twahirwa, cases of mothers killing their own babies have been reported although the number is not so high.

He explains that in most cases, women who commit this heinous crime always attribute their actions on factors such as unwanted pregnancies and neglect from husbands.

"We do receive such cases and those women always say that it was as a result of an unplanned pregnancy. Some even say they did it because of poverty and hence couldn’t afford taking care of the child,” Twahirwa says.

He also explains that there are cases where women blame husbands who neglect their families and hence leave the women desperate and helpless. In extreme cases they end up taking their babies’ lives.

With all the evil that is happening in the modern world, one at the very least isexpects a person to harm their own flesh and blood let alone a mother; therefore one may wonder, why would a mother kill their own child?

Emmanuel Hakomeza is a Psychologist at University Teaching Hospital (CHUK). He says that something as big as a mother murdering her own child can come about as a result of various reasons mainly psychological.

"The main cause would be the issue of mental illness, it could be that people living with that person or the person herself haven’t realized it yet that she has a psychological illness, because issues like poverty or neglect can’t evoke a person to commit murder,” Hakomeza says.

He adds that giving birth and not getting the help one needs from the father of the baby should not mean killing the child. He says that being abandoned and getting hurt to the extent where one kills their own child can only prompt one to put a question mark on that person’s mental health.

"There are those who are already stressed and if it’s mixed with the mental illness such actions are bound to happen,” he says

Hakomeza says that some women may attribute their actions to issues like poverty which can’t be a cause on its own because if it is indeed the problem, one can at least drop the child at an orphanage.

The other factor which can explain such an action is if the person abuses drugs, which can make her do unreasonable things under the influence of drugs.

"I think such a person needs to be taken to a psychiatric hospital for observation first instead of being taken to prison,” Hakomeza advises.

Domestic violence linked to infanticide

However, an international study published in the January issue of the journal, Archives of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine,links infanticide to domestic violence against mothers.

The study found that spousal violence against wives increased the risk of death among female children, but not male children, in both the first year and the first five years of life. The study estimates that the deaths of female infants and children over the past 20 years are related to domestic violence against their mothers.

Related research done by Jayne Huckerby titled Women Who Kill Their Children, shows that the act of killing one’s child is considered so hostile to the behavioral norms of motherhood.

She cited one New York study of the insanity defense which found that, from psychiatric reports, it is apparent that some of these mothers were insane at the time of the infanticidal acts, others whose primary difficulty seemed to be one of personal inadequacy with the wife-mother responsibilities resulting into stress.

She however explains that not all women who murder their children are categorized as insane; instead, the symptoms of feelings of inadequacy in the maternal role can be construed as insane reactions to the stress of motherhood in the case of some women.

Why would a parent kill their own child?

Producing a child is due to the love between a woman and a man and when this love is no longer there, it results into serious problems especially if one parent is left with all the responsibilities to raise the bay alone. I think some people ignorantly end up killing their own children as a way of ‘paying back their partners’. It could also be a result of people’s failure to prepare for parenthood.

Bernard Karuhanga, Teacher

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Being irresponsible is the root cause of this inhuman act. Some women fear responsibility of raising children, most especially those they didn’t plan for. On the other hand, looking at this issue in a spiritual way, you realize how some people have literally parted ways with God. Parents especially mothers need to have love for their own children, care for them in all ways even when they face challenges.

Chantal Ingabire, Volunteer, World Vision

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Some people take years trying to conceive and fail. It makes me really sad when a woman is blessed with a child and they decide to end its life. Mothers are perceived to be people with love and affection; I urge them to keep this act of adoration.

Etienne Cishahayo, Farmer

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Lack of parental love and acceptance is the reason behind this insensitive behaviour. Someone who kills her/his own child doesn’t deserve the name of a parent. Such things mainly come from people who fail to accept that they have the responsibility of taking care of those they put on earth. There is also the issue of lack of family love and support also.

Charles Sinamenye, Teacher