Mr. Manu Yakubu, a 30-year-old man, in Nasarawa State has been arraigned by the High Court for reportedly dropping his six-year-old daughter, Jennifer, in a well.
Yakubu, who lives in the Gidigidi area of the state was said to have allegedly dropped his daughter in the well over alleged witchcraft.
James Anata, the prosecuting counsel for the police, stated that the crime occurred on December 8, 2017.
Samuel Kuje, a prosecution witness, at the Tuesday hearing in the case told the court that he discovered the victim inside the well in his farm in the early hours of December 8.
“I first thought she was a ghost but when I asked who she is, she said she was Jennifer Ayuba from Gidigidi.
“I then ran to Gidigidi immediately to inform the head of the community, Mr. Ashila and four other persons; we all went back to my site and brought out the child from the well; then I called the police from B Division in Lafia to arrest the accused.”
Yakubu confessed to the crime in his statement, saying that he dumped his daughter in the well because he believed she was responsible for his ill luck.
Yakubu alleged that Jennifer had openly confessed to being a member of a secret cult and had handed him and his wife over to her fellow cultists to be killed this year.
He stated that the six-year-old admitted that she was responsible for the death of her uncle, Diour Adamu, and her two siblings who passed on shortly after birth.
Yakubu said he believed her daughter’s confession about being a member of a secret cult “because sometimes she will disappear into the bush and spend over a week before resurfacing.”
The prosecutor on Tuesday urged the judge to convict Yakubu as charged, arguing that the police had proved their case against the defendant beyond reasonable doubt.
Justice Rose Fuji adjourned the case till April 23, 2018.