Before her death, she attempted to justify her crime by the repeated infidelities of her partner, the father of the children who was absent at the time of the events. An act of violence too many that calls upon the collective conscience regarding the protection of innocent children.
The children Eden (1 year old), Gloria (4 years old), and Bordeaux (6 years old) are no longer of this world. The one through whom they came to life ended their days. On Monday, February 16, 2026, in the Nkolbisson neighborhood of Yaoundé, she poisoned the meal before serving it to her three children. Once they had died, she laid them out before cutting her own veins and committing suicide.
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The neighbors, including tenants in the building that the lady managed as a landlady, found her lying in blood. She attempted to justify her crime by the repeated infidelities of her partner, a businessman who travels abroad to buy goods and resell them in Cameroon.
She accused him of maintaining another relationship with another woman. She then threatened to punish the man by committing the irreparable so that both she and he would be losers. As the manager of the rental building and a hair salon, the lady, according to those around her, was not officially married to her partner, but did not lack the means to care for the children. Despite advice from relatives to focus on her business and rebuild her life if necessary, she chose to kill the children and take her own life just after her partner informed her that he was taking a flight.
The facts have shocked public opinion. They demonstrate the extreme cruelty of a woman who takes the lives of defenseless innocents who had placed all their trust in her. They also expose to the world the emotional and mental fragility of some individuals. They could also reflect the effects of the multiple relationships that some people maintain. However, while some relatives link the events to the lady’s mental state, others are uncompromising: nothing justifies such an act. Children do not deserve this treatment. A wave of indignation is blowing both online and in the neighborhoods and workplaces of Yaoundé.
In a statement, the Minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family declared she was “deeply shocked by this family tragedy.” Marie Thérèse Abena Ondoa “regrets all these ignoble acts that violate life, dignity, and the fundamental rights of human beings in general and children in particular.” While offering her condolences to the bereaved family, the minister calls for the responsibility and vigilance of all “so that no child is ever again a victim of infanticide.”
A similar call had already been made following May 10, 2025, the date on which Mr. Dagobert Nwafo stabbed little Mathys, a six-year-old child, to death in the Ngoa-Ekelle neighborhood. After an altercation with the victim’s father in a drinking establishment, the perpetrator, currently detained at Kondengui prison, unleashed all his fury on the innocent child to seek revenge. One wonders if the adults who commit such violence against children to defend themselves are still endowed with reason and conscience.
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