School Caregiver Arrested For Maltreating Baby To Death

The Police have arrested a caregiver at a crèche in the Accra who vented her anger on an 11 month old baby girl and allegedly killed her while feeding the baby. The caregiver, Clara Ayani Ampah, 54, was arrested after a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera installed in the room at Happy Bloomers Creche at Agbogba exposed

the dastardly act, following a complaint the parents of the baby girl lodged over the death of the child. Little Allegra Yaba Ackah Mensah was pronounced dead at the North Legon Hospital where she was rushed to by managers of the creche. The CCTV video showed the victim in a neatly decorated classroom with two other

babies. One of the babies was standing in a baby’s cot, while the other was lying on the floor and unattended to with little Allegra sitting on a stool. In the video, Clara was seen leaving the classroom, returning shortly with a cup and also cleaning the floor with tissue. She was also later seen trying to force porridge in a cup into the

victim’s mouth, while holding the baby’s hands tightly behind her. Clara was also seen pushing the baby’s head into the cup in an attempt to get the little girl to drink the porridge, while the helpless baby, who also appeared to be suffocating, screamed and threw her legs into the air ferociously. The Public Relations Officer

of the Accra Regional Police Command, (DSP) Mrs Effia Tenge, said a docket on the case had been forwarded to the Attorney General’s Department for advice.She said on May 18, this year, the victim’s father reported to the Agbogba Police that the management of the school had called him to inform him that his daughter was sick and

had been taken to the North Legon Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. Also a team of police investigators went to the hospital, examined the baby’s body and then took it to the Police Hospital morgue. An autopsy was later conducted on the body, but the report was yet to be made available to the family, she said.

Proprietress of the school, Mrs Christiana Atta Kumah, later handed over a CCTV of the day’s activities in the school to the police, which also revealed how Clara had handled the baby. The body of the victim has since been released to the family for burial.