Farmer recalls day he found dead infant
‘At first I thought it was dead duck, but when I moved closer I noticed the feet of a baby, so I counted its toes and that’s when I realised it was human’
Tears streamed down 74-year-old Bissun Deo’s face yesterday as he recalled the horrific discovery of a half decomposed new born baby on his farm in Nabitu Settlement in Sigatoka last month.
It was around 4 o’clock on an afternoon when the father of seven was ploughing his farm just a few metres from his home when he stumbled on an object which he thought was a dead duck.
“That afternoon my farm was filled with a very filthy smell. It was really bad and I couldn’t stomach it. So I decided to spend just few minutes at the farm then return home,” Mr Deo said.
“So after few minutes I started wrapping things up at the farm when I spotted something near one of the vegetable plot. At first I thought it was dead duck, but when I moved closer I noticed the feet of a baby, so I counted its toes and that’s when I realised it was human.”
The father of seven has lived with his family at the Nabitu Settlement for over 50 years and his main source of income has been vegetable farming.
“This is the first time ever that I’ve encountered a dead body. I was in shock and in tears too. How can someone do such inhumane act to their child?
“For hours I was in shock because it was the first time ever that anything like this has happened in our community.
“I saw a handsome newborn baby boy and there are couples out there wishing to have children, but someone so heartless just did this to their child,” Mr Deo said.
The community consisted of 322 people who are mostly vegetable farmers.
People at the community also raised questions as to why there had been no response from the Police on the investigations.
In response, Police spokeswoman, Ana Naisoro said they were yet to identify the mother of the baby.
She also confirmed that the post mortem on the baby was completed.
“We continue to request for information that could assist us identify the mother.
“So it’s not a matter for the investigators not doing anything about the case; they have been working tirelessly in identifying the mother of the baby,” Ms Naisoro said.