FOR a long time, unspeakable acts of cruelty have been taking place across the country. But even then, the recent event in Anambra State involving three minors seems to have raised the spectre of evil to quite another level. According to reports, certain yet-to-be-identified killers murdered three siblings, a five-year-old boy and two girls aged seven and nine respectively, in their apartment in Okpuno Nnewi, Nnewi North Local Government Area of the state. The killers invaded the apartment while the children were eating, killed them and inserted their lifeless bodies into a refrigerator in one of the rooms! Following the incident, the Anambra State Police Command launched an investigation. Spokesman for the command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, urged anyone with useful information that could lead to unravelling the perpetrators of the dastardly act to come forward.
On his part, the state Commissioner of Police (CP), Ikioye Orutugu, promised to ensure that the suspects are arrested and justice served. Orutugu, who recently replaced Mr Nnaghe Obono Itam as the state’s CP, made this declaration during a condolence visit to the bereaved family of Mr Ejezie Udochukwu and Mrs Chikazor Udochukwu, parents of the murdered minors. The CP, after inspecting the scene of the crime in company with some senior police officers and the bereaved parents, condemned the incident and appealed for the collaboration of the public in getting to the root of the matter. Orutugu, who said he was on a mission to fully reclaim the public space across the state, maintain law and order and stabilize the security architecture of the state, said: “I am also here to console the family and relatives of the children and to reiterate the commitment of the Anambra State Police Command over this unwholesome crime. Unlike other similar incidents recorded in the state which bordered on kidnapping of individuals and sudden disappearance of persons, we shall unravel the circumstances surrounding this and ensure that the suspects are arrested and justice served.”
In a heartbreaking declaration, the children’s father, Ejezie Udochukwu, said he could still “hear” his children calling for help. Narrating the terrible incident, he said: “On February 1, 2025, my wife went for an official assignment and left our children at home, as usual, because it was not a school day. She gave them instructions as she always did. However, when she returned at about 5 pm, she noticed that the doors were wide open, unlike before. She was expecting her children to greet and hug her, but she didn’t hear any voices or see any of them. She went to the kitchen to check if the food she had left for them had been eaten, but the food was still there. She began wondering where the children had gone. My first daughter is an altar server, and every Saturday, she went for rehearsals. My second daughter attended catechism for her first holy communion, and the youngest one, they couldn’t keep at home, so he was usually taken along. But on that day, they didn’t go anywhere, and nobody knew where they were… No, there was never any time they played and tried to hide inside the freezer. There was no history of them climbing it, and there were no signs indicating that they had done so. If they had, there would have been a chair nearby to assist them, but there was no chair. Those that found them in the freezer didn’t see any chair around it. According to the people who saw them, they were bleeding from the nose. When I asked if any vaginal exams had been done to determine if any of them had been sexually assaulted, nobody answered me.”
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This story is extremely sad and bizarre. How could anyone commit such atrocity? What crime had the children committed to warrant such a cruel fate? The assailants were apparently determined to sow sorrow and anguish into the Udochukwu family. They wanted to ensure that the couple were ruined for life. For even if they could manage to restart the extremely tasking business of childbearing, how can they forget the monumental loss they suffered in one day as bloodthirsty killers struck? That level of evil is unprecedented and we call on the police to do a thorough investigation and unravel the killers. This story is beyond tragic and every effort must be made to ensure justice for the hapless victims who met such a cruel fate in the comfort of their own home. The Federal Government should liaise with the Anambra State government and ensure that the perpetrators do not have another opportunity to perpetrate that kind of criminality ever again.
Perhaps there is some consolation in the promise by the new Anambra CP that he would unravel the circumstances surrounding the killing of the three siblings. The gruesome killing again reflects the deepening insecurity in the land and the tendency not to bother about the government and security agencies anymore as people become increasingly lawless and brutal in criminal activities. We hope that the CP’s promise will provide some balm going forward and that the perpetrators will be fished out for appropriate punishment according to the law.
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