A 25-year-old woman, who duped her husband into believing that she was pregnant and then attempted to bury a doll in place of her dead child, has been sent to prison
Police in Kumi say that for the past nine months Lillian Betty Apio pretended to be pregnant. She told her husband, Simon Okello, that the pregnancy was progressing well and she was receiving treatment at Ngora Fred Carr Hospital.
When Apio's due date arrived last week, she disappeared. A few days she returned home with sad news. She claimed that her baby died at birth at Ngora Freda Carr Hospital and with the body in a coffin asked for the immediate burial of her child.
The police say it is then that suspicions about Lillian Apio began. Whenever anyone asked to view the body, Apio became hysterical and fainted. She refused to open the coffin. With police support, the body was exhumed from the graveyard in which it was buried in Mukura Sub-County on Tuesday, shocking all around.
In place of a dead body was a doll!
Dr. Emmanuel Eilu says Apio was never a patient of Ngora Freda Carr Hospital where he works as the chief medical officer. He says the hospital doesn't provide antenatal services and doesn't have a maternity ward.
The Kumi police took Apio to Atutur Hospital for a series of check ups. It was confirmed that she was never pregnant. The police are also assessing her mental state to establish whether she is fit for trial.
Lillian Apio is remanded in jail until the case against her is heard or if she secures money for bail.
