Plateau State Police Command has apprehended a 17-year-old student named Elijah Anthony in Plateau State. He stands accused of murdering his neighbor’s five-year-old child, all while demanding a ransom of N400,000 from the victim’s parents,leadership report.
The suspect, who is a Senior Secondary student at Manret High School in Angul D community, Jos South Local Government Area of the State, was one of 39 individuals paraded for various offenses at the Police Command’s headquarters in Jos on Thursday.
According to reports, Anthony admitted to the killing of the five-year-old neighbor, identified as Dawom Pam. He explained, “They sent his elder brother to buy something, and the little boy was following him. So, my friend and I took the boy and concealed him in an unfinished building. Later, the boy’s parents started searching for him, and I pretended to join them in the search for their missing child but didn’t reveal where the boy was hidden.”
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“Subsequently, we demanded N5 million, but we received only N400,000. Regrettably, five days later, the boy was killed, and I was the one who committed the act because I was afraid he might inform his parents that I was the one who kidnapped him if we had released him.”
The suspect expressed remorse for his actions and attributed them to the challenging economic conditions in the country. He said, “I was at home when the police arrived and arrested me. It’s the hardship that pushed me into kidnapping and murder. I was supposed to take the WAEC exams this year, but I didn’t. Please, forgive me.”
The State Commissioner of Police, Okoro Julius Alawari, who presented Anthony and the other 39 suspects, revealed that the child’s body had been recovered from a swampy area near the unfinished building where the suspects had left him. The body was returned to the parents for burial.
The Commissioner noted that all 39 suspects would face prosecution once the investigations were concluded.
