The Nation Newspaper

Tag: three children

  • Mum, three children charged with dad’s death

    Almost three years after the death of Superintendent of Police (SP) Joseph Idehen, his ex-wife Taiwo and three of their children have been charged with murder.

    In a charge filed at a Lagos High Court, the defendants were accused of conspiracy, murder, forgery of a death certificate, falsification of documents and stealing.

    The accused, Taiwo, Samuel, Michael and Ruth Idehen are standing trial before Justice Adedayo Akintoye.

    Last April, Justice Akintoye issued a warrant for their arrest and directed that they be  arraigned on May 8, but they were not.

    The police, in the charge marked LD/6510c/2017, accused the defendants of conspiring to commit the offence on July 4, 2016, at thelate Idehen’s home at 5, Odetola Street, off Merit Road, Alagbado, Lagos.

    The police said Taiwo was his third wife, adding that they divorced over 29 years ago.

    Idehen, 64, died after eating food allegedly served him by one of his daughters, about a year after he retired. He had 11 children.

    The defendants were accused of forging a death certificate from Ota General Hospital, Ogun State, with which they conveyed his body to Aragba in Delta State.

    It was alleged that efforts to conduct an autopsy proved abortive, as four of his 11 children and their mother buried him in an unknown place.

    The court heard that one of the defendants, Michael, withdrew N286, 000 from the late Idehen’s First Bank account.

    The defendants were alleged to have fraudulently withdrawn N2.1 million from his Zenith Bank account.

    The offence, according to prosecuting counsel Morufu Animashaun, contravened sections 233, 365 (3)(d), 366 and 287 (5) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

    The defendants pleaded not guilty.

    Animashaun prayed the court to remand them in prison pending their trial.

    “The defendants’ arraignment was predicated on a petition dated August 2016, written to the police by the Chambers of Milestone Partners, wherein the role played by each of the defendants leading to the death of the retired police officer was stated,” Animashaun said.

    He said upon receiving the petition, the defendants were invited for interrogation and their statements taken.

    But defence counsel Mr. Kennedy Osunwa argued for his clients’ bail, saying the applications “have been filed and served on the prosecution.”

    Justice Akintoye remanded the defendants in prison and fixed hearing in their applications for Friday.

  • Woman, three children allegedly set ablaze

    The police in Lagos have arrested a man, Shola Adewunmi, for allegedly igniting fire in the home of a woman he quarrelled with.

    The incident occurred yesterday morning at Powerline Road, beside Lawyer Raji Street, Alagbado.

    Adewunmi, currently being held at the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Panti, Yaba, was arrested by policemen attached to Alagbado Division after his phone gave him away.

    It was gathered that the suspect at the wee hours of yesterday set fire on the shanty occupied by the woman, Iya Ayo and her three children, Ayo, 17 years, Esther, nine years, and Nifemi, five years.

    While Nifemi was said to have died as a result of the fire, it was learnt that the woman and her two other children sustained severe burns.

    Police Commissioner Imohimi Edgal, who led reporters to the scene, described the incident as man’s inhumanity to man.

    He said the Divisional Police Officer, who responded to the incident, discovered a phone and when it was traced, it was found out that the phone belonged to Adewunmi.

    Edgal said: “This is where the woman and her three children live. They were sleeping; suddenly there was a fire outbreak. They sustained burns and have been taken to hospital.

    “The DPO and his team searched the house and recovered a phone, which was traced to Shola Adewunmi, who had quarrelled with the woman.

    “He has been arrested and I have ordered that he be taken to the SCIID for investigation. He will be investigated and arraigned. I will direct DCP Panti to give you access to the suspect when we have completed investigation.”

  • Imo CP orders investigation into death of three children

    THE Imo State Police Commissioner, Mr Chris Ezike, yesterday ordered a thorough investigation into the death of three brothers who died in Okwelle, Onuimo Local Government Area. The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Andrew Enwerem, confirmed the incident.

    Enwerem said the brothers: Saviour, Salvation and Precious Nweke, five,three and two respectively,who had earlier been declared missing, were found dead in a vehicle in the village. “We received a report of three siblings who had gone missing; unfortunately the boys were found dead in a stationary vehicle in the village by a search party,” he said.

    The police spokesman said that it was likely that the children unwittingly locked themselves in the vehicle and died of suffocation when they couldn’t unlock the car. However, he said, an investigation into matter had been ordered by the commissioner of police.

    He added that the corpses of the children had been deposited at a mortuary in the area by the police. A resident of the community, Onyekachi Chikwem, told the News Agency of Nigerian (NAN) that the children who had been playing when their parents went out were nowhere to be found when the parents returned. Chikwem said an alarm was raised when the children could not be found and the police were alerted.

  • Three children, parents die after rice meal in Anambra

    •Police: we’re waiting for autopsy 

    A family of five has reportedly died after eating a meal suspected to contain poison at Umuatuegwu Okija in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State.

    The father of the three children was said to be a commercial motorcycle (Okada) operator, Albert Ndenemenu.

    His wife, Nwanne, as well as their three children reportedly died after eating the meal.

    Details of the incident could not ascertained last night, but police spokesperson Princess Nkeiruka Nwode told reporters that the command was waiting for autopsy reports on the deceased’s bodies.

    There were conflicting reports on the likely cause of the deaths, but the police spokesperson said the command would not speculate but investigate the matter and get its facts right.

    Though Nwode did not speak on the alleged arrest of some suspects on the incident, but The Nation gathered that three persons had been arrested over the matter.

    A source, who spoke in confidence from Okija, said the deaths were through food poisoning, while some others claimed they were fetish-related.

    An eyewitness at Umuatuegwu Okija said Mrs. Ndenemenu, who was the last to die, prepared rice for the family’s lunch.

    All members of the family were said to have eaten the food.

    Shortly after, her husband and her children reportedly started vomiting blood.

    When some villagers rushed into their compound, following her alarm, all the family members were said to have died.

    The source also said the woman collapsed on seeing her husband and children dead.

    She was reportedly taken to Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH) at Nnewi, where she died.

    A resident of the community Sir Ignatius Okonkwo said the cause of deaths was yet to be ascertained.

    The man noted that efforts to prevail on the authorities of NAUTH to conduct an autopsy on the family did not yield fruit.

    Another person, said to be an in-law to the family, was said to have taken the bodies to a mortuary.

    The Nation gathered that when stories were making the rounds that the family was poisoned, the in-law brought the five dead bodies back to their house, where they were lined up in the open for several hours.

    Other members of the family were said to have later returned the bodies to the mortuary.

     

  • Rock crushes mother, three children to death in Abeokuta

    Rock crushes mother, three children to death in Abeokuta

    • Father, two others critically injured

    One of the many rocks for which Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, is famous  and named after, came crashing down on Friday night, crushing a family of four to death.

    Killed were a mother (Silifat Lawal); two of her children (Raaheedat,15, Semia,4); and a grandchild  (Mariam).

    The heavy rock rolled off the height it had sat for hundreds of years at Iberekodo in Abeokuta North, smashing into the bedroom of the deceased who were fast asleep soon after having dinner.

    However, the head of the family Ismail Lawal and two other children – Sukurat and Rofiat- survived the assault on the modest home by the deadly rock.

    They were just a few steps away – relaxing in the sitting room – when the tragedy struck.

    They were injured, but that is not without injuring them seriously.

    Locals blamed Friday’s downpour for the incident.

    They said the rain appeared to have softened the base of the rock which gave way and made the rock to lose its balance.