Man kills daughter over plate of rice

By Evelyn Usman
A 29- year-old man, Kingsley Ekeret, is currently cooling his heels at
the Homicide section of the Rivers State Criminal Investigations
Department, SCID, for allegedly beating his seven- year-old
daughter to death, for eating his plate of rice.
The suspect, a commercial bus driver who hails from Nto Osung
community in Ikot Ekpene LGA of Akwa -Ibom state was saddled
with the responsibility of catering for his three children alone, after
his wife reportedly abandoned them.
He returned home at about 7pm on April 12, 2014, hungry and went
for the pot of rice he had prepared before leaving for work only to meet
an empty pot. Report said he angrily charged at Favour and
unleashed his beastly tendencies on the innocent girl on discovering she
was the one that ate the food.
Neighbours said that explanations by the ailing child that she shared
the food with her siblings when they were hungry fell on deaf ears.
Her health, as gathered, aggravated and unfortunately she died hours
later.
Corpse kept in same room with siblings
Preliminary investigation, according to the command, revealed that on
noticing the motionless state of his daughter, Kingsley placed her
body at a corner of his one room apartment in Obeama, Oyigbo Local
Government Area where his two other children of ages two and three
respectively were sleeping. He, thereafter, wrapped the corpse in one
of his clothes at the wee hours of the next day and armed with a
shovel, he reportedly dug a shallow grave behind his apartment where
he buried the remains of Favour and went about his normal business.
But the bubble burst after the caretaker of the building, one Ugwu,
who noticed the unusual disappearance of Favour, demanded for her
whereabouts   from her father. Ekarete was said to have told the
care-taker that his daughter took ill and was rushed to a hospital in
Umuebulu community where she died.   Curious Ugwu reportedly
insisted on seeing the corpse, promising to assist in providing money
to bury her, a request the suspect refused to oblige.
A resident who spoke on condition of anonymity told Saturday
Vanguard that “ the caretaker informed a neighbour, one Pastor
Emeka Onuoha, of Jesus Reigneth Ministry of the situation. While the
accusations ensued, policemen attached to Afam Police division who
were on patrol were flagged down by the Pastor, consequent upon which
Kingsley was arrested and later transferred to the State Criminal
Investigations Department.”
Suspect claims deceased was poisoned
In his statement to operatives of the Homicide section, Kingsley
exonerated himself from the crime, giving rather different accounts
as to how his daughter died. At first, he said: “ She died as a result
of neglect by her mother. She left me to carter for my three children
alone. I usually go out everyday to toil for what they will eat. She
apparently died out of neglect.”
At other time, he said , “Maybe she was poisoned. You see, being
poor, I deposited my telephone with a Hausa man that sells rice, with
a promise to collect it back when I pay. It was the rice I prepared
for them that morning ,without knowing it was poisoned.”
It was gathered that at a point, he became incoherent with his words.
Efforts to get him take the operatives to where the remains of the
child was buried failed at first as he reportedly claimed he buried
her along the road, on his way back from the hospital. He further
stated that he had deposited the body in a mortuary at a neighboring
village. Urged to take them to the places, he turned around and
claimed he has forgotten the exact place.
Truth unfolds
The truth about his alleged involvement was later unfolded when his
parents visited him at the SCID. His father was said to have told
operatives that Kingsley called him on the phone, informing him that
he had mistakenly killed his daughter.
They`narrated his strange behaviour even towards the mother of his
children who ran away from home to avoid his excesses. Kingsley’s
father also narrated how his son had called him immediately after
the murder.
Body recovered
When it became apparent that his game was up, he reluctantly took
operatives and members of his family to the shallow grave he dug
behind his apartment where part of Favour’s body was reportedly seen
wrapped in a blue cloth. Efforts to reach mother of the children have
reportedly seemed futile.
The Rivers State Commissioner of Police , Mr Tunde Ogunsaki, who
described the act as a violation of the child’s right to survival and
development as well as lack of parental care and protection said the
suspect would need to go through psychiatric test apparently to
ascertain his mental state before he would be charged to court. His
assertion followed claims that Kingsley might be mentally deranged.