Woman nabbed attempting to poison infant

Asela Kuruluwansa

The mother of a prematurely born baby who allegedly attempted to poison the infant was arrested by police at the Kandy General Hospital and produced before the Kandy Magistrate and remanded last Friday.

According to the Kandy Police, the suspect was admitted to the Kandy hospital where the baby was delivered prematurely and was warded in the special ward for premature babies.

Usually mothers of such babies are separated and the babies are fed with the mothers' milk extracted into a feeding bottle. The woman is alleged to have mixed poison to her milk but the hospital staff had become suspicious of the woman's movements and had sent the milk to the lab for analysis where it was found contaminated with poison.

When the hospital staff examined the woman's cupboard in the ward, they had found insecticide among her things and informed the police.

The woman who is unmarried was living with her sister's family looking after the children as the sister was employed in the Middle East.

She had become pregnant and wanted to have the child killed as the child's father was her brother-in-law, Inspector B.Bamunusinghe of the Police Women's Bureau, Kandy said.