24 years old man murders brother to spite parents
, says they sent him to private school
Thursday, January 15, 2009

A cutlass purchased by Mrs. Victoria Koyaya, 45, on November 23, 2008, for her domestic chores, has turned out to be a source of sorrow, as it was used by her step-son, Ernest, to butcher her son, Joshua.


•Ernest




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The incident occurred at Omonile-Orile in Ijegun-Egba, a Lagos suburb, on December 23, 2008. Daily Sun gathered that the suspect, who is now in police custody, callously murdered Joshua in his bedroom and buried him in a shallow grave behind their house.

The motive behind the action of the 24 years old Eni, as the suspect is fondly called is what detectives at the State Criminal Investigations Department(SCID), Panti, Yaba, Lagos, are trying to unravel.

But the father of the two children, Mr. Stanley Koyaya, who was separated from Ernest's mother when he was two years recalled, "I was in the house in the morning till at about 1.30pm when I left home. Even before I left, Joshua helped me to do some of the house chores. Then, at about 5.00pm, I had a telephone call that my junior boy was missing. "

He continued: "It was unusual because the boy does not wander afar while playing. That day, I was on duty. So, I was so worried that night. I was told that the boy was left in the care of his elder brother, Ene, while their mother was out. And when she came home, she could not find the boy. Meanwhile, the cartoon network he was watching was still on and she noticed that his slippers and sandals were in the house. That means, he did not leave the house.

So, after her return and the boy was nowhere to found.”

Our source explained that efforts made to find the stage four pupil of Prime Montessori School, Satellite Town, Lagos, proved abortive. " At that point, members of the estate gathered and a search began, but there was no clue. Meanwhile, my senior boy was in the house,” he told Daily Sun.

And when he was accused of being responsible for his brother's disappearance, Ene attempted taking his own life.

"When the search team sought to know from him about his brother left in his care, he could not provide an answer, prompting the team to accuse him of being responsible for his disappearance. He said they accused him falsely and threatened to commit suicide. So, he drank Otapiapia (insecticide) and water treatment. But neighbours felt that if he dies, no one would get to the root of the matter.

"He was taken to the hospital and the matter reported to the police. However, as God would have it, the neighbours discovered some bloodstain in Ene's room. Though it had been cleaned, there were still some visible stains on the floor. So, with that, the search was intensified. Luckily too, at the backyard more bloodstains were discovered including a newly dug ground were discovered,” he said.

It was at that point that they invited the police who came with their photographer before they tried to exhume the body; "Behold, my little boy was buried there in a swallow grave. The body was exhumed and police asked me to identify it before it was taken to the station, then to the mortuary. Thereafter, the police went and arrest my senior boy at the hospital and took him to' Agboju police station".

"Initially, Ene refused to confess that he carried out the act but there was no doubt that he did it because with a newly bought cutlass missing, the bloodstains and the grave just at the backyard, it was obvious he committed the act.”

After the dastardly act, the suspect also buried the cutlass. "My wife bought that knife on November 10, 2008, for weeding and cutting of firewood. It got missing after about six or five days and on December 16, we dug up that same knife from where he also buried it at the backyard. These shows he had nursed the ambition for a long time and the opportunity came that fateful day", he said.

Did Ernest commit the act alone or in company of others? Hear Koyaya: "Initially, that was our suspicion. He was arrested along with one of his friends, Henry whom they saw him with. He is my tenant at the back of my house. When he (Ene) got to Panti, his first statement included other names. But he later retracted it because, from investigations, it was discovered he had problems with those people and just wanted to rope them in. Apart from this, no other direct links yet. But we know that he couldn't have carried out this act alone. That's our submission."

Daily Sun gathered that Ene, alongside one of his friends, had been initiated into a secret cult, where they were asked to bring blood for money rituals and some people wonder whether he was under the influence of drug. But his father said: " I know that he is somebody who doesn't take cocaine. If he takes those stuff, sometimes, he can be high and you would know from his character. We have not noticed such. The cultism aspect is the area we have not been able to establish. Then, on the question of insanity, if somebody is mentally sick, he would not be able to co-ordinate his actions and statements the way he did."

Daily Sun was told that the two brothers maintain cordial relationship. "There has not been any strange or strained relationship between him and his late brother. It has been cordial. We have never discovered any occasion whereby the junior one was nasty to the senior or the latter being cruel to him. It did not happen.

"The motive for which he killed his younger brother is what baffles us till this moment. First, he told some reporters who never bothered to come to us, that he killed his brother to spite me. He claimed I sent him to a public school and sent his late brother to private school".

But Koyaya said his son's claims were all lies. He said:" I sent him to Nigerian Navy Primary School. When he finished from there, I sent him to The Learning field Schools, Satellite Town. If it's not the best, it is one of the best private schools in this area. But he was not serious. And I can't be wasting my money because he was not ready to learn. He was not serious at all and I decided to send him to Satellite Secondary School. Since he finished, I have registered him for the JAMB thrice, but he has not been able to make it. So, the last time I went to Panti, I confronted him (Ene) with these facts right in the presence of the senior officers. And he could not deny it".

Koyaya's neighbour, who was on a condolence visit, but pleaded anonymity said it was after the ugly incident that they got to know that his wife was Ene's step-mother. "Nothing goes to show that Ene and his brother were not of the same biological mother because their parents give them equal attention. Even the father has great love for him. So, it is still surprising why that he killed his brother," he said.

http://odili.net/news/source/2009/jan/15/504.html

He has been haboring so much animosity within himself for decade the school issue is a cover up

Yes. It's a pity we don't take out time in Africa to check on our children's emotions and what is hurting them. The boy should have gone for counseling. Polygamy is bad tho.

The boy dey craze. I recommend death sentence.

though shall not judge

afi Koyaya naa.