35-year-old Thomas Matthew has told a horrific
tale of how his father, who he claimed initiated
him into an occult group, appeared to him and
told him to sacrifice his children to him.
In response to the demand, Matthew strangled his
two-month-old son, John Matthew and four-year-
old daughter, Mary Matthew at different times.
But his attempt to also kill his first son, Josiah
Matthew, who is nine years old, backfired.
The horrendous acts were committed in Mountain
village opposite Dantata Camp, Asokoro, Abuja.
As Sunday Sun learnt from the Commissioner of
Police, of the Federal Capital Territory Police
Command, Mr. Mohammed Mustafa, the suspect,
Matthew strangled his daughter, Mary, inside his
house on October 7, 2016, after beating his wife,
Bola, who is deaf and dumb and chasing her out
of the house.
In a brief interaction facilitated by a sign
language expert, the wife who is deaf and dumb
recalled how the husband had tried to kill their
first son.
She said:
“I didn’t know that my husband is a cultist. I
remember when he first tried to kill our first son, I
reported the matter at the Garki Police Station. It
was my mother who took the boy away from the
house and he is still staying with her in Mararaba,
Nasarawa State. Then I had another son last
year. When he was two months old, he became
sick. My husband killed him in September 2015. I
didn’t know until he confessed. This year I had
our daughter. In the night of October 7, 2016, we
were together in the house when suddenly he
started beating me. I got injured and ran away to
his elder sister’s house.
Before I came back with his sister, he had
strangled our baby to death. He locked the door
and ran away. It was policemen from Asokoro
Police Station, where I reported the case that
broke the door and found the baby. We rushed the
baby to Asokoro General Hospital. The doctor
said the baby was dead. Now I have only one son
left, Josiah Matthew. It was only God who saved
me from the power of darkness.
When he spoke with Sunday Sun at the
headquarters of the Criminal Investigation
Department of the FCT Police Command, where
he is being held prior to arraignment in court,
Matthew corroborated what the wife said and
made other disclosures in explanation of what
drove him to commit the alleged heinous acts.
His words: “I got married to my wife, Bola, and
we were blessed with three kids. My father is a
cultist and he initiated me into the occult. My
father asked me to offer the children as sacrifice
and mark of honour to him, promising he would
make me become rich.
“It was a covenant that nobody knew, even my
wife. My father gave me conditions that if
anybody got to know or I revealed the covenant,
that the covenant would be destroyed. From the
time I had my first child, my father began
disturbing me to offer my child to him as a
sacrifice.
Matthew who hails from Kwande Local
Government Area, Benue State, further said: “I
tried to kill my first child by strangling, but my
wife caught me and reported to the police and her
mother came to take the child away from the
house.
He has been staying with her in Mararaba,
Nasarawa State.
Later my father appeared to me after I had my
second son, John, who became sick. I strangled
him to death in 2015. On October 7, 2016, my
father appeared to me again that I should kill my
only daughter. I was with my wife and then I
started beating her and she ran away to my elder
sister’s house and I locked the door and
strangulated my four-month-old baby girl and she
died.
I locked the entrance of the house and ran away.
It was the youth in my area that arrested me and
handed me over to the police. I wanted to kill my
younger brother according to my father’s
instruction. My father is still alive and he is in the
village in Benue State.”
The police commissioner assured that the suspect
would be charged to court soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment