Monday, May 5, 2014

Man murders daughter over plate of rice


Man murders daughter over plate of rice
A 29-year-old man, Kingsley Ekerete, is now in police custody for allegedly killing his seven-yearold daughter, Favour. T
he commercial bus driver, who hails from Nto Osung community in Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, according to the police, was enraged when he discovered that his daughter had eaten his “reserved” rice. The First School Leaving Certificate holder has to drive his bus daily through the bustling traffic of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, to make ends meet for his family.

As usual, on April 12, he returned home at 7pm, but famished. He went straight for the pot of rice he had prepared before leaving for work only to find that his equally hun-gry daughter had eaten the food. Ekerete’s animal instincts were aroused and in a fit of mad rage he descended on the innocent girl. Favour, who, according to report, was ill before then, cried herself to sleep.
Her illness became aggravated because of the excessive beating from her father. She died a few hours after the beating. The man then placed the body in a corner of his one room apartment in Obeama, Oyigbo Local Government Area, which he shares with his two other children aged two and three. The body stayed there for a whole night.
After the neighbours had gone to sleep, Ekerete wrapped the body in his own clothing, armed himself with a shovel and buried it in a shallow grave behind his room. Ekerete’s evil act would have probably gone unreported but for the inquisitiveness of a female caretaker of the house, identified as one Ugwu. The caretaker queried Ekerete over the unexplained disappearance of Favour, described as the darling of neighbours.
The man tried to cover up his deeds but Ugwu, who was not convinced, told a neighbour, one Pastor Emeka Onuoha of Jesus Reigneth Ministry. In the ensuing confrontation, Onuoha flagged down policemen attached to the Afam Police division who were on patrol.
The police arrested the man and after interrogation transferred him to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID). Later Ekerete took policemen to the place he buried his daughter. His wife, according his parents, abandoned her marriage because of Ekerete’s wired behavior.
The state Commissioner of Police, Tunde Ogunsakin, who spoke on the issue, said that his men, on receiving the file case from Afam police station, noticed that Ekerete’s explanation on the missing daughter was suspicious and that efforts to reach the mother were rebuffed when police started investigation.
According to Ogunsakin, this is a case of homicide and considering the nature of the crime, Ekerete needs to go through a psychiatric test before he is arraigned in court.

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