The house where the incident occurred. Inset: Victim’s brother.
The Lagos State Police command has
arrested a father, identified simply as Benson, for allegedly flogging
his son to death with a belt.
It was gathered that Benson, an indigene
of Ishan in Edo State, allegedly beat up Bright, his 16-year-old son, to
death after the teenager was accused of stealing N1,200.
PUNCH Metro learnt that Benson,
who had divorced his wife, was living on Olanrewaju Street, Oregun,
Ikeja, with his two sons – Bright and Samuel, 14 years – when the
incident happened.
Samuel told our correspondent that on
Sunday evening, his father beat up his elder brother in anger because of
the accusation against him. He added that Bright had been ill before
the beating.
He said, “Bright has been sick for some
days before that Sunday. Initially in the morning, Dad was looking for
Bright, but could not find him. Later in the evening, Bright showed up
with some boys on our street who told our father that Bright had stolen
N1,200 from them.
“Truly, dad found the money in his pocket, but I think he stole it because he was hungry that day.
“My father was very angry on discovering
the money in Bright’s pocket. He returned the money to the
owners, and
after they left, tied Bright’s hands with a rope. He then began to beat
him with the iron end of his belt.”
Samuel noted that his father, who
suffered from partial blindness, must have unintentionally hit Bright,
who was still battling with a sickness, in the wrong place.
“I think it was the anger that made my
daddy to make that mistake. The reason is because as soon as he did not
hear Bright’s cries again, dad stopped beating him, carried him on his
shoulders and rushed him to a private hospital near our house. But he
was said to be dead when we got to the hospital,” he added.
However, Benson’s neighbours told our
correspondent that the man, despite his eyes’ problem, had the habit of
beating his children with any object.
One of the neighbours, who identified
herself simply as Oluwaseun, explained that the man began beating the
boy around 9pm, adding that Bright’s pleas for mercy fell on the dad’s
deaf ears.
She said, “The man is simply a wicked
man. He does not relate with people. The boy he killed usually takes him
to church every Sunday because of his eyes’ problem. So, on that
Sunday, he could have become angry that the boy left home and refused to
take him to church.”
Another resident on the street, who craved anonymity, said Benson had a history of violence in the area.
“I was living in the house before. On one
occasion when we were still living together, we had a small
disagreement over where to spread clothes in the backyard of the house.
The next thing was that Benson got a cutlass and chased me. I narrowly
escaped from him that day. That was one of the reasons I moved out of
that place,” he said.
PUNCH Metro learnt that Bright’s remains had been deposited at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital Ikeja mortuary for autopsy.
The Lagos State Police Public Relations
Officer, Ngozi Braide, confirmed that the case was under investigation
at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba.
Source: The Punch