13th December, 2024
By Monday Ajogun
A 40-year-old man, Alfred Bassey, 40 has been arrested over the death of his seven-year-old son in a soakaway pit in an uncompleted building where he is living in Onitsha, Anambra State.
The spokesperson for the Anambra Police Command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, said Bassey was arrested for alleged lack of care and negligence that led to the sudden death of the boy.
Ikenga, in a statement in a statement on Friday in Onitsha said police operatives attached to the 3-3 Divisional Headquarters on Friday by 9.30 a. m. Alfred Bassey a native of Abi in Cross River State over the death of the boy.
“Preliminary investigation reveals that the father of the victim forcibly took the minor from the mother and has been living with him in an uncompleted building at Trans-Nkisi Layout Onitsha.
“Furthermore, on Dec. 11, 2024, the lifeless body of the child was found in a soakaway pit dug in the abandoned uncompleted building after the suspect left the child for an unknown destination.
“The body of the child was later recovered and taken to the hospital before he was confirmed dead by a doctor,” he said.
He stressed that the Commissioner of Police, CP Nnaghe Itam, was saddened by the development.
Itam admonished parents to prioritize the well-being of their children against any difference they may have had with their spouses to avoid exposing them to emotional and psychological trauma or death.
He further directed the immediate transfer of the case to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Awka, for a more detailed investigation.
(NAN)
