A Chief Magistrate’s Court sitting in Enugu East Magisterial District has remanded one Anthony Onyeukwu over the death of his 11-year old houseboy, Goodluck John.
The Enugu State Commissioner for Children, Gender Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Ngozi Enih who disclosed this, stated that the 47-year-old suspect was arrested following a tip-off from one of the Ministry’s whistle-blower channels.
The Commissioner revealed that the whistle blower alleged that teenager’s death was linked to abuse in the hands of the family where he lived as a houseboy.
However, the suspect was said to have quickly conveyed and had the remains of the 11-year old boy buried in the boy’s hometown in Abia State without reporting his death to the appropriate authorities.
Although he was said to have claimed that the boy died from an ailment at the Park Lane Hospital, Enugu, the Commissioner said there was no record to show that the boy was admitted in the hospital or that his corpse was deposited in the hospital’s morgue.
Arraigning the suspect, the Police Prosecutor, Inspector Calista Ifeanyi, told the presiding Chief Magistrate, Ngozi Edeh Anih that Onyeukwu had committed an offence punishable under the Criminal Code (Revised) Laws of Enugu State.
The charge sheet marked CME/631C/2024 read, “That you, Onyeukwu Anthony ‘m’ on 15th day of October, 2024 at about 20:30 hours at No. 4, Mike Onyeka Close, Loma Linda Extension, Maryland, Enugu, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did unlawfully kill one Goodluck John ‘m’ aged 11 years and thereby commited an offence punishable under Section 274 (1) of the Criminal Code, CAP 30, Vol. II, Revised Laws of Enugu State of Nigeria, 2004.”
The Chief Magistrate subsequently ordered the suspect’s remand in the Correctional Centre, Enugu and adjourned the matter to November 20, 2024 when the report from the Director of Public Prosecution in the state’s Ministry of Justice is expected.
Meanwhile, the Office of the wife of the Governor of Enugu State, Mrs. Nkechinyere Mbah, has warned against any form of child abuse in the state, vowing that no such act would go unpunished.
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