Tragedy struck at a farm settlement in Idanre Local Government Area of Ondo State after an 18-month-old girl was allegedly killed and beheaded by unknown assailants.
The victim was reportedly attacked at Agoti Settlement, a farming community in Idanre, an incident that has left residents of the area in shock.
The father of the deceased, Mr Bright Kalu, a peasant farmer from Abia State, has called on the authorities to ensure that those behind the gruesome killing are brought to justice.
Kalu said the toddler was in her mother’s care at the family’s farm camp while he was working on another farm, located some distance from the settlement.
Narrating the incident, the bereaved father explained that he was returning from a nearby camp where he had gone to purchase food items when he met his wife in a distressed condition.
According to him, his wife informed him that an unidentified person had invaded the camp and attacked her while she was with their children.
“She told me that someone came to the camp and attacked her. She managed to rescue three of our children, but one of them was missing,” Kalu said.
The farmer said he immediately joined his elder brother, Ifeanyi Kalu, and his wife in searching for the missing child around the settlement.
He said their efforts initially yielded no result until they made a horrifying discovery behind their residence.
”We later found the lifeless body of my daughter behind our house. Her head had been severed,” he lamented.
Kalu appealed to the Ondo State Government, security agencies and human rights organisations to intervene in the matter and ensure that justice is served.
He disclosed that the incident was first reported at the Olofin Police Station in Idanre before the case was transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department at the Police Headquarters in Akure for further investigation.
The spokesperson for the Ondo State Police Command, DSP Abayomi Jimoh, who confirmed the incident, said detectives had arrested a suspect in connection with the killing.
Jimoh stated that the investigation into the matter was ongoing, assuring that the suspect would be charged in court upon the conclusion of the probe.
