The case of Lucy Letbey, a 33-year-old nurse in the UK who was given a life sentence for killing seven babies and attempting to kill six others few days ago should be something to make us reflect on how we do things in our country.
Lucy Letby worked at the Countess of Chester hospital’s neonatal unit from 2015 and that was when the problem started. She injected air into intravenous line and injected insulin to the babies among other methods of murdering them. She was removed from the unit in 2016 and the deaths stopped. However after much suspicion she was arrested in 2018.
The most fascinating thing about this case is the diligent investigation that took years to unravel the truth, and as so many cases have proved if well investigated no matter how many years it takes the truth must come out. But that is in places where they are dogged about finding out the truth and definitely where such dedication matters.
In fact in such places there are investigators that are assigned to what they call cold cases, cases that have been unsolved for many decades. They are not ignored or brushed aside by saying, ‘nothing else can be found’. We read or watch from time to time where such cases are solved by finding new evidence.
Coming back to our country only God knows how many people are killed in hospitals through negligence, incompetence or deliberate act like that of Lucy Letby, but since it is not in our character to scrutinise, people really get away with murder. And where a victim’s parent or relative tries to report to the authorities if he suspects something foul, he would be prevailed upon to accept it as an ‘act of God.’
I remember in the mid 80s, one man went to a chemist and complained of some ailment. He was given an injection, he collapsed and died. Nobody reported the case to the police; nobody investigated the qualification of the person who administered the injection and on and on. It was accepted as an act of God, while such people go about killing people.
Also some time ago one man bought a concoction that was called ‘service’, a cure for all kinds of ailments at a Juma’a mosque on Friday. He took it at home and died. No report was made to the police even if it was reported, it would be said that they may not see the medicine vendor as such people move from place to place. But it is because there is no willpower otherwise it is not as difficult as we make it to be.
Few years ago one man told me his two-year- old son had died. He later told me that it was their neighbour that killed him by putting a poison in kosai and giving it to the boy. He said she confessed at the police station but she begged for forgiveness and he had forgiven her!
I asked him whether they were on bad terms with the neighbour, he said no, but that she was just envious.
The point here is not about forgiveness or being unforgiving. It is about justice and sanitising the society, because how could you kill somebody deliberately and be allowed to go without even being taken to court? There is the possibility of this woman killing another child.
But perhaps some take the easy way out of leaving everything for God to judge than press the matter that they know may not come to an end. First of all you have to be prepared to be giving money to the police to do their job, call it transport money or whatever. Some don’t have money for this extortion.
They would complain that there is no fuel in their cars which may be true, which brings us to ask how those western countries’ police get fuel for their cars and even police helicopters.
It is hoped that this case may not be seen by the authorities, especially the police as something far from us, it should in fact make our police uncomfortable and make them vow to change how things are done here. They should strengthen their investigation units and pursue cases to the end at no cost to the people seeking justice.
