An apprentice has brutally killed and beheaded his master’s 14-year-old son in order to raise money for his child’s naming ceremony.
The suspects
An 18-year-old man, Ayodeji Obadimeji, has reportedly beheaded the 14-year-old son of his neighbour ironically to raise money to celebrate the naming of his new born baby, NewTelegraph has reported.
It was gathered that the sad incidnt occurred at Shapati town in Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Area of Lagos State. The deceased, Joseph Makinde, was beheaded on Tuesday night.
His father, Mr. Kayode Makinde, is a wielder in whose shop Ayo works as an apprentice. The suspected killer is said to be a close friend of Joseph’s elder brother.
Ayo was alleged to be desperately in need of money for the naming ceremony of his new child slated for today.
According to Kayode, on Tuesday, one of his friends, identified as Femi, sent Joseph to withdraw some money from a nearby POS terminal.
He said: “On Tuesday, about 8.30p.m., Joseph was doing his homework when my friend, Femi, called and sent him to go and get money for him at Point of Sales Terminal (POS) in the community. It was just a few poles away from my house.”
Kayode and Femi became worried when after 30 minutes, Joseph was yet to return.
“I began to look for Joseph. He doesn’t usually stay outside late. My friend and I continued the search, until we ran into a police patrol team. But we never knew that the police had an encounter with two young men who they caught with a human head that same night,” the distraught father said.
Kayode added that one of the policemen asked them what they were searching for, but he replied that his son went to collect money from POS and had not yet returned.
He said: “The policemen told me to go and sleep but I told them I couldn’t sleep because I was looking for my son. They said I should follow them.”
Kayode and the police team got to the police post at Shapati junction on Epe Expressway, the leader of the patrol team asked them for the age of the boy and he replied 14 years old.
Kayode added: “The leader of the team informed us that the police ran into some boys. He gave a number to call; it was that of the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Elemoro Police Division, Bogije, Ibeju-Lekki. The DPO told me that the patrol team came from outside the station. When they arrived, they brought the dead body of my child saying it was unfortunate that the boy was dead. Police said they caught the boys yesterday and they confessed that they took my son to an uncompleted building and beheaded him.”
Following a police raid yesterday, Joseph’s body was recovered from the uncompleted building while Kayode’s friend, Femi, had been also arrested for interrogation as a prime suspect.
The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), CSP Chike Oti, confirmed the incident. The PPRO said Ayo carried out the murder in conjunction with his elder brother.
He said: “On 27th day of November, 2018 about 5.30p.m., a team of Anti-Kidnapping personnel of the Lagos State Police Command, on routine patrol between Ajah/Epe Expressway, apprehended two brothers, namely Ayodeji Obadimeji, aged 18 years and Saheed Obadimeji, aged 19 years of Tunde Balogun Street, Shapati, Ibeju-Lekki, in possession of a fresh human head.
“On interrogation, they confessed that Sodiq Abefe contracted them to provide him with a human head at the cost of N200,000, hence they lured the victim by sending him to buy Coca-Cola drinks for them and when he brought the drinks to them, they held him and cut off his head with a knife.”
Although Kayode told our correspondent that Joseph was 14, Oti gave his age as 10 years.
The PPRO added that the torso had been recovered from an uncompleted building located at Shapati and effort was being made to arrest Abefe who allegedly contracted the siblings to commit the heinous crime.
Oti said the Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal, had directed that the case be handed over to the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Panti, Yaba, for further investigation.
He said: “The CP Lagos reiterated his earlier warnings to criminals to repent or relocate from the state or regret the consequence of their action.”