Five-year-old ‘almost poisoned by mother’

A five-year-old boy in Laamu atoll Maabaidhoo has been saved from his mother’s attempt to poison him, media reports said.

The Indian woman had tried to poison her son by barricading herself inside her home and pouring pesticide in to the boy’s mouth on Monday night, said Ibrahim Shareef, the Island Council President, according to local media.

The woman had already been arrested and released over a family dispute on Sunday evening in which she threatened to kill the child, Haveeru reported.

The council went to the woman’s home, concerned for the family’s welfare, but found all the doors closed. They broke down the door to find the child being fed pesticide, but were able to intervene and save him.

The woman had made previous attempts on her children’s lives, the report said.

Shareef said the boy had been treated at Maabaidhoo Health Centre.

In a separate case in 2010, the Indian wife of a Maldivian man was arrested after being accused of infanticide. The state was unable to provide her with an attorney, so the case stalled and she was confined in Dhoonidhoo detention center for four years before being released without charge.