Mother Kills Her 13-Year-Old Son In Ogun State

The police have arraigned a 33-year-old mother, Margaret Odunlade, and two others, for killing her 13-year-old son, Tunde Sumola. The police said Margaret, her sister, Olayemi Odunlade, and her second husband, Folorunsho Emmanuel, beat up the 13-year- old to death before dumping his corpse in the canal on Emmanuel Street in the Ikeja area of Lagos. The mother, Margaret of the deceased it was gathered had separated from her son, Sumola’s father and remarried to 40-year- old Emmanuel. On August 2, 2014, the police said Margaret had gone to Ijebu Ode area of Ogun State to pick her son from where he was staying with a guardian.But on getting home late in the night, her second husband was said to have refused to allow the boy into his house. On seeing that her husband was not willing to allow the boy in the house, she was said to have taken him the same night to the Mowe area of Ogun State, to stay with her sister, Olayemi. However, the police said the 13-year-old was later found in the canal with injuries over his body which led to the arrest of the three suspects. They were arraigned on two counts of murder. The charge reads in part, “That you, Margaret Odunlade, Olayemi Odunlade and Folorunsho Emmanuel, on August 2, 2014 at about 6am, at Emmanuel Street, Maryland, Ikeja, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did conspire among yourselves to commit felony to wit; murder. “That you did unlawfully kill one Tunde Sumola, 13 years, by beating him and throwing him into a canal.” The police, in a remand application brought before the court, said the suspects confessed to the crime and there were witnesses who would give evidence in court. The police prosecutor, Asup Feddy, said the offence was punishable under sections 231 and 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State Nigeria, 2011. The defendants’ pleas were not taken due for lack of jurisdiction. Feddy asked the court to remand the defendants in prison, pending legal advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions. while the defence counsel, Spurgeon Ataene and Beauty Otigih, however opposed the remand application. The Magistrate, E.O. Ogunkanmi overruled the application for preliminary enquiry and ordered the defendants to be remanded pending legal advice from the DPP. The matter was adjourned till September 24, 2014.