Police in Ebonyi State have arrested a 33-year-old man, Martin Odanwu, for allegedly killing his 11-year-old stepson, named Destiny.
Odanwu was said to have beaten the boy to death for being outside their home at an odd hour. The incident occurred at Amaofia Ngbo, Ohaukwu Local Government Area of the state.
The suspect was arrested by the Ohaukwu police command and taken to the state police headquarters in Abakaliki where he is currently being detained.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Loveth Odah, who confirmed the incident said the Commissioner of Police, Aliyu Garba has ordered full investigation into the killing.
She said that on 27 July, 2021, two persons from Umuogudu Akpu, Okposhi Eshi in Ngbo, Ohaukwu local government went to the police station in Ohaukwu and reported that around 1:30 am, they heard the voice of a woman crying. They went to ask what happened and saw a lifeless boy by name Edeh Destiny of 11 years on the ground. When they asked the woman, she said the boy was beaten to death by her husband, Martin Odanwu, 33, of Amaofia Ngbo.
“The woman said the man is her husband and not the father of the boy. The woman confirmed that she is a mother of seven, and that the man is her husband. She said that when she got married to the man, she had three children before that boy; and that along the line, she had issues which kept them away and she mistakenly took in for another man but that she has resolved the issue and the boy has been accepted back by her husband.”
“I asked her why the man beat the child to death and she said that the husband was sick and she too had some illness in her and she wanted her own family to help her and treat the illness. So, all of them including her children went to her parent’s house and spent about four months before the man went back to their own house. The man went to the market to buy things and on his way coming, he saw his children and started quarrelling with them over why they were outside by that time and caught the other boy and beat him to death.”
“Ohaukwu Division has arrested the suspect and handed him over to the police. As I am talking to you, Martin Odanwu is in the cell. The Commissioner of Police has ordered a full-scale investigation into the matter to unravel the circumstances behind the killing,” Odah stated.
