POLICE NAB GUARD OVER ALLEGED SEXUAL ABUSE, DEATH OF MINOR IN NIGER

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By ‘Balogun Ibrahim

The Police Command in Niger has detained a 26-year-old security guard, Godwin Dauda, over the alleged defilement and death of an 11-year-old girl in Suleja.

The command’s spokesperson, SP Wasiu Abiodun, disclosed this while briefing newsmen on Friday in Minna.

Abiodun said the police received a missing-person report at the Suleja Police Division on Sept. 20, after the girl failed to return home.

He said the girl had left home on Sept. 19 to attend a relative’s birthday ceremony within the area.

According to him, a pastor of the Apostolic Church, Suleja, later reported the discovery of a dead body inside a well on the church premises.

He said police officers and officials of the Suleja Local Government Council visited the scene and recovered the body.

“The body was then taken to the Suleja General Hospital, where it was identified as that of the missing girl,” he said.

Abiodun said preliminary investigations indicated that the suspect allegedly defiled the girl before disposing of her body in the well.

“The girl’s body was found inside the well within the premises of the Apostolic Church in Suleja, where the suspect works as a security guard,” he said.

The spokesperson said Dauda allegedly fled the area after the body was recovered in an attempt to evade arrest.

He said the suspect was subsequently arrested around Kuje in the Federal Capital Territory at about 8 p.m. on Sept. 23.

Abiodun said Dauda allegedly confessed during interrogation to luring the girl into his security room at the church.

According to him, the suspect told investigators that he defiled the girl and that she subsequently died.

He said the suspect also allegedly told the police that he disposed of the girl’s body in the church well in an attempt to conceal the crime.

The spokesperson said investigation into the case was ongoing, adding that the suspect would be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Minna.

He said the transfer would facilitate further investigation and possible prosecution if the suspect was found culpable.

(NAN)