Onitsha, Nigeria – Police Operatives attached to the 3-3 Divisional Headquarters Onitsha, the commercial city of Anambra State, have arrested one Alfred Bassey, aged 40, over the sudden death of his 7-year-old child.
Converseer reports the incident took place at a construction site along Trans-Nkisi Layout, Onitsha, on December 13 2024, by 9 am.
The State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, who disclosed this in a statement in Awka on Friday, said the alleged father of the dead child is a native of the Abi local government area of Cross River State.
He said the arrest was in connection with the ongoing investigation of a reported case of the unfortunate incident.
According to him, 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 11th December 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.”
The State Commissioner of Police, CP Nnaghe Obono Itam, saddened by this development, admonished parents to prioritise the well-being of their children against any difference they may have had with their spouse to avoid exposing them to emotional and psychological trauma and/or death.
He further directs the immediate transfer of the Case to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Awka, for a more detailed investigation.
