The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a man, Mr. Paul Obiefule, for allegedly beating his 12-year-old relative to death.
The
relative, who was identified as Onyedikachi Mbanozo, was staying with
Obiefule, a bricklayer, and his wife on Omitola Street in the Agege area
of Lagos.
Punch Metro learnt that Onyedika, as the boy was fondly called, was the son of Obiefule’s wife’s brother.
It
was further gathered that the boy was beaten to death on Monday evening
around 8.30pm, while the neighbours reported the matter at the Pen
Cinema Police Division on Tuesday.
It was
said that Onyedika, who was attending Irewole Primary School in Agege,
could not go to school for several weeks before his death as a result of
a sickness sustained from series of beatings.
One of the neighbours, who identified himself as Mr. Oje Owode, told our correspondent that the boy died from an accumulation of floggings which he received from his aunt’s husband.
He
said, “The man (Obiefule) usually flogged the boy like an animal. Most
times, we tried to intervene, but he would not listen to us. The boy
fell sick several times from Obiefule’s merciless flogging. The last
sickness was for over two weeks. And then on Monday again, the man beat
the sick boy, and locked him up in the room.
“Later,
we just saw that Obiefule and his wife went out of the house and did
not return until around 5am. We noticed that he put a big bundle on his
shoulder and smuggled it in with his wife.
“We
did not know that the boy had died in the evening and they were looking
for where to dump him all night. That was when we raised the alarm and
reported him to the police.”
Another neighbor, Mr. Fatai, said Obiefule usually used hammer, chisel or a screw driver to inflict pains on the deceased.
It
was learnt that as soon as Obiefule was arrested on Tuesday, his two
boys were taken to a c primary school on the next street. When our
correspondent visited the school, the proprietress, who did not want her
name to be mentioned, said Obiefule’s two boys had not been spared from
their father’s wickedness.
The
Lagos State Police spokesperson, Ngozi Braide, confirmed the arrest of
Obiefule in an e-mail and added that the police had commenced
investigations.
