A 36-year-old pregnant woman who stabbed her mother-in-law to death in her sleep has pleaded for mercy and revealed she would name her unborn child, Aishatu, after the deceased.

WuzupNigeria reports that the culprit, one Fatima Sani, had stabbed 70-year-old Aishatu Umaru to death in her sleep on 23 April 2020 for allegedly prompting her son to divorce her.

Sani, who said she had been married to her husband, Sani Umaru, for 11 years, adding that she was his third wife.

According to her, she and the deceased during the period always engaged in quarrels and, at times, fisticuffs.

According to her, on the D-day, “around 3pm, something came upon me; I took a knife and went to her room. I saw her sleeping; she was on the bed with my third son, Naziro. I shifted my son away from her and stabbed her to death.”

Now Fatima is pleading for mercy and has even vowed to name her unborn child after the mother-in-law despite her hatred for as a sign of remorse.

“I know it is a murder case and I know the implications of what I did. The law can take its course. The truth is that my mother-in-law did not want me to have peace in my matrimonial home; Allah should settle everything and may Allah be praised,” she said in a The Punch report on Sunday.

“I am begging the state government to temper justice with mercy and consider my condition. When I deliver my baby, if she is a girl, I will name her after my mother-in-law. I will name her Aishatu; that was my mother-in-law’s name. It will show I’m remorseful.”

Fatima has three children by her husband and is carrying a six-month pregnancy. She claimed her mother-in-law did not hide her disdain for her since the union in March 2009, after her “husband defied his mother’s threat not to marry me, there was no love lost between me and my mother-in-law”.

She added,

“Every small matter was easily amplified into a major issue, resulting in a quarrel and physical combat in many cases. She mounted pressure on her son to take another wife. She described me as a good-for-nothing woman so that her son would leave me for another woman. She even threatened to curse her son if he failed to end his union with me.”

According to her, her husband has stood by her during her ordeal in detention.

“Despite what happened, my husband has refused to divorce me because he loves me a lot. He even ignored my family’s quest to end the marriage if he was not interested. He feels sorry that I am still in detention despite my condition (being pregnant). I know he is taking his time to sort things out at the appropriate time.”