Osun police arrests man for killing, burying own babies

The Osun State Police Command has arrested a 43-year-old man identified simply as Sanjo, alleged to have killed and buried four of his own babies on a farm in Osogbo, the state capital.

Sanjo’s arrest came after he beat his two-month old baby to death over persistent crying.

The Osun State Commissioner for Women, Children and Social Affairs, Olubukola Olaboopo, in a statement on Monday confirming Sanjo’s arrest, said the suspect, who lives around the Alekuwodo area of the state capital, has been handed over to the police.

Olaboopo, who said the Ministry got wind of the crime through a source, added that government officials moved in and arrested the suspect immediately.

According to the Commissioner, in his confession to the police, Sanjo said he got married to his wife in 2008 and they had five children, four of who were dead.

“It was the third child that I beat unintentionally to death,” he was quoted as saying.

“My wife left the child with me and she started crying. I did all I could to placate her, but she kept crying.

“Something just came upon me and I beat the two months old baby to death. My wife and I buried the child on our farmland,” he added.

However, the Commissioner’s statement said Sanjo’s wife, while being interrogated, claimed that four of their five children had died, leaving them with only the last child.

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“She explained that she conspired with her husband to kill two of the children due to poverty, while they dumped one child around the Osogbo Technical School area.

“She said that she suffered in the hands of her husband, claiming that apart from constantly subjecting her to hard labour on his farm, the man was fond of beating and tying her before sexual intercourse.

“The woman said that on several occasions she was compelled to source sexual partners for her husband, and that they both made several abortion attempts on the last baby before he was born,” the statement said.

Olaboopo warned that the state government would not condone acts of violence and child abuse, vowing that anyone caught would face the wrath of the law, adding, that the suspect will be charged to court soon.

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