Father of the two girls who were allegedly poisoned to death by their mother in Essikado in Western region says he believes she is capable of committing the act.

According to Ebenezer Afful, his wife had once threatened to kill their children.

“She had threatened before; she told one of my sisters that she didn’t know her. And if she tried her, she would kill the children, herself and everything would end there,” he asserted.

The 40-year-old mother is said to have fed her children, a seven and six-year-old, with tea containing a substance believed to be poison.

Family and neighbours have blamed the act on her mental illness, but so far, she has refused to speak on the incident.

She is currently in police custody and is expected to be evaluated by a psychiatrist soon.

Ebenezer and Naana had been married since 2007 but their relationship was “nothing good to write home about” according to him.

“We cannot talk to each other. I make the effort, every time I greet. Even last Saturday I went there. I greeted her [but] she didn’t respond and that is the case from 2007 to date,” he told Nana Adjoa Entsuah of Radio Maxx in Takoradi.

Ebenezer said he suggested to Naana’s family that they took her to a health facility after she started behaving strangely.

According to him, the two kids who were staying with him but Naana took them to their auntie’s place in Tema to live with her after she was admitted at Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital.

“I got upset after she returned from the facility without our kids so I gave her money to bring the children home for Christmas holidays,” he added.

The bereaved father said the suspect came back to tell him that her auntie said she wanted the children to stay with her for a while.

“I threatened her that if she does not go and bring the kids, I would not allow her to live here,” he stated.

It was at this point that it emerged that the two kids had been poisoned. 

Ebenezer’s admission of Naana’s love for their two daughters did not prevent him from saying that she was capable of committing the act.