The woman, arrested for allegedly killing her two children aged six and three, Hauwa’u Habibu, says she was paranoid and hallucinating when she attacked the minors.
Madam Habibu, 26, of Diso Quarters at Gwale Council area of Kano State in Nigeria, reportedly killed the children, a boy and a girl, with a machete and pestle on Saturday.
She was also said to have attacked a third person, her nephew, who survived.
The suspect told the police and newsmen she was possessed by spirits and was out of her mind.
“I am not even aware I killed my children,” she said.
Her husband and father of the deceased kids, Ibrahim Haruna Aminu, dismissed her wife’s claim of being possessed by spirits.
The suspect said: “I saw my son and daughter attacking me with a knife and another weapon. I called my husband and told him what was happening but he didn’t believe me.
“So I locked the house and escaped to my mother’s house for safety. The next thing I know was my husband coming to my mother’s house with bloodied clothes saying I killed the children.”
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The suspect added she had been mentally ill and paranoid for a long time.
“I used to feel I was being pursued. I even hallucinate a lot but my husband never believed me. Even he himself, I used to see him transforming into a beast with hooves instead of legs.”
Her husband, who took a new wife three months ago, told reporters that she never exhibited any sign of mental illness in their seven-year-old marriage.
“My wife is neither possessed nor suffering from mental illness. That is why the incident touched us seriously because we know she is well and not possessed. Whoever said she is possessed by spirits or has mental illness is lying,” he said.
He also denied she killed their two kids over squabbles with his second wife.
Police spokesman, Abdullahi Haruna, told The Nation the suspect would be moved to the Criminal Investigations Department.