TRAGIC MERCY’S LITTLE MIRACLE
Toddler survived for 4 DAYS in flat beside body of his migrant mum, reveals dad
THE father of a baby who was found starving next to his dead mother said it was ‘a miracle’ the child had survived.
Eric Nnanna, 30, said his 16-monthold son Adriel had survived for four days without food or water after the death of his mother Mercy Baguma.
Miss Baguma, 34, a restaurant worker, was found dead in her flat in the Govan area of Glasgow on August 22, days after last speaking to friends.
Her body was only discovered when Mr Nnanna, her former partner of three years, visited the flat after becoming worried. He told how at first he had thought it was empty, but called the police when he opened the letter box and heard Adriel crying inside.
He said the child was covered in blood and was too weak to stand up in his cot.
Adriel was taken to hospital before being handed to his father, who is now his sole carer.
Mr Nnanna, a graduate of the University of Aberdeen who lives in Glasgow, told the Daily Mail: ‘The whole trauma has made him glued to my body. He now follows me everywhere. He basically doesn’t want me to ever leave his sight.
‘Each time I remember the state and condition he was found, tears run out of my eyes uncontrollably.’
Privately educated Miss Baguma had moved to Scotland from Uganda 14 years ago before taking a job as a waitress. She was one of 14 children in the family of former Ugandan MP Abdu Balingilira Nakendo.
Miss Baguma’s sister Hajirah Nakendo, a lawyer in Uganda, revealed her sibling had come to the UK in search of higher wages after struggling to find work in her homeland.
But she had fallen on hard times when the restaurant she worked at closed during lockdown. Her situation was then made worse when her visa expired, giving her refugee status and forcing her and her child to live on government handouts of £35 a week.
At the time of her death, charity African Challenge Scotland (ACS) said she had been plunged into ‘extreme poverty’ and contacted them looking for food parcels.
Miss Baguma’s death came just weeks after she appeared in an ACS online video thanking charity workers for their help. The details of her death were expected to be revealed to her family yesterday. Her friends in Uganda say she had struggled with depression for ‘many years’.
Reliving the moment police broke down the door of her topfloor flat, in the shadow of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Mr Nnanna told the Glasgow Times: ‘When they opened the door they said I shouldn’t come into the flat.
‘They said they saw Mercy’s body lying in her hallway and Adriel was in his cot.
‘She died on the Tuesday night, so Adriel didn’t have food or water or anything from that Tuesday night until that Saturday morning when he was found. It is a miracle he survived. I don’t know where he got the strength from to cry because he had been there for so many days.’
Mr Nnanna disputes the charity’s claims that Miss Baguma was living in poverty. He said: ‘To say that Mercy died of starvation or hunger is wrong – there were people there to help.’
Mr Nnanna said he hopes Adriel grows up ‘knowing that his dad will always be there for him, that his dad will love him and care for him’. He added: ‘When he grows older, I will tell him how loving his mum was.’
A spokesman for the Home Office said: ‘We will be conducting a full investigation into Miss Baguma’s case.’