I-n-c-r-e-d-i-b-l-e! 13 year-old-girl murdered, kept in fridge
MD Abubakar, Police IG
LOKOJA – IF only, 13-year old Yetunde, Racheal Samuel had known what fate had in store for her on 5TH October, she would have changed her mind about staying home and followed her family to the wedding of the day. But life played a fast one on her and kept her in the dark about the evil that lurked at the corner . She had no premonition whatsoever, that on that particular day, she would bid the world goodbye in a gruesome manner.
On that day, the serene town of Isanlu, headquarters of Yagba – East Local Government of Kogi State was thrown into tumoil following the gruesome murder of Yetunde, whose body was deposited inside a medium size freezer after being strangled to death by yet to be identified killers.
Yetunde Rachael Samuel, a JSS 2 student of Oluyori Comprehensive College, Isanlu was killed in the night of October 5th and neatly deposited inside a medium size freezer to create impression that she fell into the
freezer and was subsequently jamlocked and frozen to death without any body knowing; which shows that her death was pre-planned and carried out with an ulterior motive.
What has remained a mystery is who actually murdered her and for what. Aside that, the question on the lips of people is why was she the only one left in the house that particular day and why she was hurriedly buried in the cover of the night? Why did the parents or the guardians fail to report her mysterious death to the police before she was committed to mother earth? Only the police or perhaps, the late Yetunde herself could actually reveal who killed her and how she died.
The perpetrators of the henious crime would have gotten away with it if the police had not gotten wind of it. Maybe Yetunde’s blood is seeking for justice as no one knows how the Police heard about it.
The state commissioner of Police, Alh Mohammed Musa Katsina who got wind of the dastardly act, suspected foul play, arrested the guardians of the girl and ordered that the corpse be exhumed for a thorough autopsy to confirm whether the girl actually jumped inside the freezer and got frozen or she was killed.
t was a hectic time for our correspondent and detectives led by the deputy commissioner of police, Alh Zannah Mohammed who travelled to the community with a pathologist from Federal Medical Centre to exhume the decompsing corpse for autopsy.
The guardian of the girl who is at the centre of the mysterious death, Mrs Deborah Motunrayo Jaiyeoba claimed that she left the girl who was the daughter of her younger sister at home that Saturday morning for a marriage ceremony along with all her children.
According to her, when she got back from the wedding ceremony and did not see Yetunde, she thought she had gone to play. She said she was thirsty and raced to the deep freezer to get a satchet of water to quench her thirst when she suddenly discovered that Yetunde was stone dead in the freezer and she immediately raised alarm.
Mrs jaiyeoba, a sanitary inspector at the local government claimed Yetunde wanted to clean the deep freezer in her small retail shop when she fell into the deep freezer and must have frozen to death.
Saturday Vanguard also gathered that the father of the desceased was said to have felt indiferrent about the death of her daughter as he hurriedly consented that she should be buried immediately.
Saturday Vanguard’s investigation revealed that Yetunde’s mother was impregnated at the age of 17 while she was still in secondary school; and after delivery , decided to drop Yetunde at the age of two with her sister and headed to Ilorin for greener pasture where she later got married. However, the autopsy carried out revealed that the late girl was actually killed; maybe, for rituals.
Preliminary doctor’s report confirmed that the girl died as result of neorogenic shock secondary to multiple skeletal injuries most likely sustained from blunt force trauma .
The doctor’s report also said two of the girl’s teeth were removed with some vital parts while the entire head region was battered with blunt instrument.
Speaking with Saturday Vanguard, the State Commissioner of Police, Muhammed Kastina said the whole episode was a case of culpable homicide. He said the innocent girl was brutally murdered but expressed shock that the biological father of the girl did not show concern but instead, he brought a letter to his office along with somebody who claimed to be a judicial officer that the case be withdrawn.
The CP said when he interrogated the father, he could not even read nor comprehend the contents of the letter which gave suspicion that some people were behind the murder. He therefore called on members of the public to be more vigilant with their children and to know who they give their children to for upkeeping but vowed to pursue the case to a logical conclusion .
If truly Yetunde’s guardian was behind the gruesome murder, why and what could be the reason behind it after sucessefully nuturing her for the past 13 years? What does she stand to gain? All these questions seem unanswarable as the peoples wait patiently for the police to unravel the case and make their submission known on time.
Those arrested along with the 43 year- old Mrs Jaiyeoba Deborah who was the guardian are three of her children namely: Jaiyeoba Titilayo, 20 years old; Tunmininu Jaiyeoba 23 years old and Jaiyeoba Femi 18 years old. Others are Shade Jimoh, Chief J I Owolabi, Raphael Owolabi, Raphael Abiodun and Tolulope Sunday.
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