Residents of Jemesi Papa Street in the Igando area of Lagos State were thrown into shock on Sunday following the alleged torture and murder of a 10-year-old girl, identified as Faith, by her foster parents.
The suspects, Paul Onyeama and Adline
Ogbonna, were apprehended by angry youths and subsequently arrested by the
police for allegedly beating the ailing child to death after weeks of
persistent abuse.
According to eyewitness accounts, the
10-year-old victim had been subjected to consistent maltreatment, including
frequent physical assaults and being forced to perform strenuous errands
despite her age.
A resident and state coordinator of the
Take It Back Movement, Adekunle Taofeek, revealed that Faith had been ill for
approximately two weeks prior to her death, yet the couple allegedly continued
to assault her.
“I was informed that the girl had been
sick for about two weeks, yet the abuse continued. Yesterday, both the husband
and wife allegedly beat the child severely despite her condition, and sadly,
she died,” Taofeek stated.
Following the child’s death on Sunday,
the couple reportedly kept the corpse in their room and attempted to carry on
with their daily routines to avoid suspicion.
Sources familiar with the matter
revealed that while Adline Ogbonna was seen cooking in the kitchen on Monday
morning as if nothing had happened, her husband, Paul, had allegedly left the
house to procure a tricycle to secretively dispose of the girl's body.
The alarm was raised by vigilant
neighbors who questioned the girl’s whereabouts. Youths in the area intercepted
the couple before they could move the body and handed them over to the Igando
Police Division.
During police interrogation, the
suspects claimed that the girl died while receiving treatment at a hospital.
However, medical evidence and preliminary police findings have debunked these
claims.
A police source confirmed that the child
was already dead before she was brought to the clinic. Taofeek further
corroborated this after speaking with the attending physician.
“The doctor confirmed that a child was
brought to the hospital, but she was already dead on arrival,” he added.
The Lagos State Police Command has
confirmed that the case would be transferred to the State Criminal
Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, for further investigation.
This gruesome incident mirrors a similar
case in April 2025, where a man allegedly beat his daughter to death in the Ojo
area of the state, highlighting a disturbing trend of lethal domestic violence
against minors in Lagos.
Efforts to reach the State Police Public
Relations Officer, Abimbola Adebisi, for comments were unsuccessful as of the
time of filing this report.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment