Emotion ran high yesterday, at the Lagos State
Police Command, Ikeja, following a startling
revelation by a suspected kidnapper of how
he snuffed life out of his seven-year-old victim. The victim identified simply as Ayuba, was
reportedly playing with his friends at Oke-Kube
Street in Ikotun area of Lagos, when the
kidnapper, Onyeka Patrick,who lives in the
same area beckoned him to come. Report said unsuspecting Ayuba followed
Onyeka into his room, located on 16, 3rd
Avenue Mumako Estate, only to be kidnapped. Onyeka, thereafter, wrote a letter to his victim’s
parents demanding for N5 Million ransom,
including a phone number with which he could
be reached. *The suspect Policemen at Ikotun division who were
contacted, reportedly swung into action and in
the process, arrested Onyeka. Parading the suspect before journalists
yesterday, the Lagos State Police Public
Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, said Onyeka was
transferred to the Special Anti Robbery Squad,
Ikeja, where he confessed to have strangled
Ayuba to death. “He confessed to have kidnapped the seven
year-old boy and strangulated him to death.
He went ahead to conceal his body in a sack
and later dumped it inside a septic tank of an
uncompleted building in the same
neighbourhood, before writing a letter to the father of the victim, demanding a ransom of N5
Million before the victim will be released. He
also, included a phone number with which he
could be reached. He has led operatives to
recover the decomposed body of the victim
which is now deposited at the Isolo General Hospital mortuary for autopsy”, Braide said. My brother’s wife exposed me When approached, 25-year-old Onyeka, an
indigene of Anambra state blamed the act on
the handiwork of the devil. He simply stated
that his brother’s wife reported him to the
police. According to him, “ I do not know what came
over me. I know God will not forgive me for this. The first
thing that gave me away was my mood. My
brother’s wife noticed I was no longer myself
since Ayuba was declared missing and
reported to her husband. My brother on his
part, went to read the letter I wrote to Ayuba’s parents and discovered it was my hand
writing. He then handed me over to Ayuba’s
father to say all I knew about his missing son.
That was how I was taken to the police”. Asked why he killed the boy instead of
releasing him alive to his parents, he replied, “ I
killed him in order to block every channel that
would link me to the deed. I knew that if I
released him alive, he would disclose my
identity to his parents who would in turn report to the police and I would be arrested. How I killed Ayuba. After inviting him into my room at about 3pm
that fateful day, something whispered to me
that I could kidnap him and make money out
of it. But after detaining him for about two
hours, he kept saying he wanted to go to his
parents. Not knowing what to do, I gripped him by the neck and strangled him. When he
attempted to scream, I held his mouth and
pressed harder on his neck. He struggled for a
while and became still. When it was dark, I tucked the body inside a
sac and dumped it inside a septic tank of an
uncompleted building. And on my way back, I
dropped a letter in front of his parents house
where I demanded for N5 million ransom. Asked what he intended to do with the
ransom, he simply stated that he wanted to
start a business with it. Meanwhile, the command’s spokesperson said
Onyeka would be charged to court for murder. Vanguard