Anger has continued to trail the murder
of five-year old Bethel Okoro, a kindergarten three pupil of
Holy Cross
Schools, Warri, Delta State.
Bethel was allegedly flogged to death by
her 34-year-old father, Becklin Okoro, an ambulance driver with the
state-owned Warri Central Hospital, on Friday.
Becklin was said to have been angered
when he found out that Bethel, had visited her mother at 22, Numa Mejeyi
Street, Iyara in Warri whom he had been separated from
for sometime due to allegations that he was always beating his wife.
Bethel was said to have visited her
mother’s apartment after closing from school instead of going home, a
development that infuriated Becklin(the Father).
He allegedly flogged the helpless girl
severally before she fainted and was rushed to the Warri Central
Hospital, where she eventually died.
Becklin immediately took the corpse to the mortuary and ran away. He has yet to be apprehended since the incident took place.
The 25-year-old mother of the deceased,
Esther Uremure, a hairdresser, told journalists that a cloud of darkness
had enveloped her world since she lost her daughter and described her
ex-husband’s action as wicked.
She said, “The father of my child killed
her. He flogged her to death because she visited me in my place. On
Friday, I was not at home but some youths in the area called me and
informed me that my daughter was dead. I went to “A” Division Police
Station to report the matter and they asked me to go to the Warri
Central Hospital to confirm if it was true.
“When I got to the hospital, the
mortuary attendant told me that my ex-husband denied flogging my child
to death. Rather, he said it was his sister that flogged the girl to
death and that when he got home, the child was already dead.”
The police authorities were said to have
exonerated Becklin’s sister because there was no evidence to show that
she was culpable.
She added, “So, since then, the police
have been looking for him and they have not seen him. The corpse is
still in the mortuary. Becklin said I was not taking good care of the
children. After the death of my father, he said he never knew that I was
an Itsekiri by tribe and vowed that an Itsekiri woman could never be
his first wife.
“His family even intervened in the
matter, but he refused. There was a time he beat me up in the presence
of the two children I had for him. He comes here every day to make
trouble, even on January 1, 2012, he beat me up, injured me on the face
and broke my head. He comes to the salon to harass me.
“We signed an undertaking on January 4, 2012, that the children will be with him, but I have every right to visit them’’
Meanwhile, individuals and civil society
groups in the state have condemned Becklin for allegedly flogging his
daughter to death.
The Forum for Justice and Human Rights Defence said the alleged murder was not only barbaric, but unacceptable.
The National Cordinator of the group,
Mr. Ognenejabor Ikimi, in a statement in Warri on Saturday, said, ‘’We
condemn the barbaric act and call on the police to spread their
tentacles in a bid to apprehend and prosecute the fleeing suspect whom
we believe is a dangerous bully that should be kept outside the purview
of our society.”
Also, Dr.Veronica Ogbuagu, founder of
the Every Child Counts Initiative for Education, said the beating of
Bethel was the highest form of child abuse.
‘’Looking at the corpse of the girl,
one would wonder if she fought with a lion. She was badly beaten. We are
prepared to hire the services of a lawyer to prosecute the case. The
police must go all out and fish out the suspect for him to face the
music,’’ she said.
Ogbuagu, a former Commissioner for
Education in the state, added that there was an urgent need for the
government to monitor the prevalence of various forms of child abuse in
the society.
The police spokesman in the state, Mr.
Charles Muka, confirmed the incident, adding that the police were still
on the trail of the suspect.
Source (http://punchng.com)
What can we say? Too sad! We plead that the Government, Every good Citizen of Nigeria should be concerned about this. lets all join hands to make sure Mr Becklin Okoro is apprehended and smell Justice without mercy!
Lets have your say...
Damn! this is wicked of a father. How are we sure this wicked man is her father? This idiot of a man need to die by hanging.
ReplyDeleteInfact this is a very sad story, that man is devlish and he deserve to die a painful death if he did that to the poor little girl.
ReplyDeleteWhatever happened, the person that murdered Bethel will never find rest in this life. i can't explain why people these days are heartless.
ReplyDeleteHow could one kill his own child? This man must be son of devil. he deserve to be with the devil soon.
ReplyDelete