Police have arrested a 26-year-old security guard, Godwin Dauda, over the alleged rape and killing of an 11-year-old girl in Suleja, Niger State, North-Central Nigeria.
Spokesperson of the State Police Command, Superintendent Wasi’u Abiodun, in a statement said the girl was reported missing after she left home on September 19 to attend a relative’s birthday ceremony in the area.
According to the police, a pastor of the Apostolic Church, Suleja, later reported that a body had been found inside a well within the church premises.
Police officers visited the scene and, with the assistance of local government welfare officials, recovered the body and took it to General Hospital, Suleja, where it was identified as that of the missing girl.
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The police said suspicion fell on Dauda, a security guard attached to the church, after he allegedly fled the premises following the discovery of the body. Police arrested him around 8pm on September 23 in Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, where he was said to have gone to hide.
Abiodun said the suspect confessed during interrogation that he lured the girl into his security room at the church on September 19 and sexually assaulted her. The girl died during the assault, and he dumped her body in the well in an attempt to conceal the crime before fleeing.
The command said a preliminary investigation was ongoing and that it would transfer the suspect to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Minna, for further investigation and prosecution.
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(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
