My son’s killer was paid N500 –Mother

Simon

Chiagozie

A grieving mother, Mrs. Chinasa Okereke, has revealed how a 15-year-old boy was paid N500 by an Islamic cleric to abduct her three-year-old son for ritual at the White Sand area of Ijegun, Lagos State.

Chinasa said that the teenager, their next neighbour, Simon, was able to lure her son, Chiagozie, away from home because the boy knew and trusted him.

During interrogation, Simon was alleged to have confessed to police that an Alfa in the community, names withheld, told him to get a three-year-old child. Simon further confessed that after he brought Chiagozie to the Alfa, he was given N500 for his pains.

When the three-year-old was finally located by detectives from Isheri Police Station, he was already dead. A big stone was found beside his head and a red cloth tied around his neck.

Chinasa, who broke down and wept yesterday at home in Ijegun area of Lagos while chatting with journalists, said that she was not just grieving for her murdered son, but now scared witless after three men on motorbike came to threaten her and her husband, Augustine Okereke.

Recalling how Chiagozie was kidnapped and killed, Chinasa said that it happened on Tuesday.  The mother of four, who lives in a multi-room building, said that her oldest child is 10, the second eight, the third is the deceased and the fourth child is just nine-month-old. The oldest child was not around when Chiagozie was taken.

She explained that on that fateful Tuesday, she brought the children to the front of the house because she wanted to bath them.

Leaving the eight year old and Chiagozie outside, she briefly stepped into her apartment to get a wrapper to strap the nine-month-old to her back.

When she came out, Chiagozie was nowhere to be found. When she asked her eight-year-old daughter the whereabouts of her little brother, the girl said that Simon, the 15-year-old living in the building next to theirs, took him.

Chinasa said: “When my daughter told me that Simon took Chiagozie, I immediately rushed to their house, but his guardians said they had been looking for him. When it was getting late, we went to the police station to tell them that Simon took our son and that we couldn’t find him.”

Police took over the case and soon located and arrested Simon. He was taken to the station. Singing like a bird, he revealed how the Alfa came to pick him and Chiagozie with a car.

When detectives asked questions around the community, they were told by some residents that they saw the Alfa driving off with Simon and Chiagozie.

The young suspect led police to the scene where the Alfa took him and Chiagozie. The corpse of Chiagozie was found laid out on the ground. A big stone was beside his head and a red cloth tied round his neck.

Asked how Chiagozie was killed, Simon said that he saw when the Alfa lifted Chiagozie midair and made some incantations before dropping him to the ground.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, reacting to the incident, alleged that the Alfa used the deceased for ritual. He further said that the Alfa and Simon have been transferred to the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, Lagos, for further investigations.

He said: “Parents should be proactive and know the kind of people they leave their kids with. Parents and guardians shouldn’t allow the economic situation in the country to affect their vigilance and care towards their kids.”