Man remanded for defiling neighbour’s four-year-old daughter

• Housewife kills stepdaughter with insecticide to ‘teach co-wife respect’

The police yesterday told an Ogba Chief Magistrates Court in Lagos how a 35-year-old man, Festus Ekuku, defiled his neighbour’s four-year-old daughter. The prosecutor, Mr. Christopher John, told the court to proffer stiff punishment on the accused, insisting that he lured the girl to his house where he defiled her.

He said the incident occurred at Okoson Street in Afromedia, Okokomaiko area of Lagos, where they live, adding that the accused lured victim into his apartment, pulled down her pant, forcefully penetrated her and in the process injured her private part. He said the victim’s mother uncovered the evil act against her child when she wanted to bathe her.

“When she probed further the girl said she was feeling pains in her private part as a result of the injury she sustained after the unlawful act,” he said.He added that the matter was reported to the Gender Section of the Lagos State Police Command where detectives arrested Ekeku and detained him at the command.

During interrogation, the police found him culpable and charged him before the Ogba Magistrates court for defilement. Ekeku was remanded in prison as the court denied him bail and refused to take his plea.

The presiding magistrate, Mr. Peter Nwaka, directed the prosecutor to duplicate the file and send to DPP for advice. The matter was adjourned pending the availability of the report of DPP advice.

Meanwhile, a 20-year-old woman, Zulac Kabiru, has confessed to killing her eight-month-old stepdaughter, Rukaiya Kabiru, to teach her co-wife how to respect ‘her superior’ by giving her local insecticide, known as ‘otapiapia’, to drink. Zulac who was arrested by the police in Niger State for allegedly killing her stepdaughter at Danauta village in the Mariga Local Government Area of the state, said the second wife had the habit of insulting and assaulting her, so she decided to poison her daughter.

The suspect was said to have secretly given the baby the locally-made insecticide to drink, which resulted in her death. It was gathered that the suspect and her co-wife had not been on good terms for a long time. Facts gathered also revealed that the first wife resented the marriage to the second wife.

Speaking to newsmen when she was paraded, she said: “I warned my husband to desist from getting another wife in the family but he would not listen. The second wife was in the habit of insulting and assaulting me at all times and one day I decided to poison her eight-month-old daughter to death to increase her sorrow.”so that she will learn how to respect her superior in the family. Before my husband married her, we have been living in peace but when she came she divided the family. My husband gave her more attention than myself and since then our family had been in shambles,” she explained.