CALABAR — A six-year-old girl is dead and a 29-year-old man is in police custody in Cross River State after he allegedly assaulted his stepdaughter following an accusation that the child was a witch.
The victim, identified by the police as Goodness Ekpo Okon, was allegedly beaten by her stepfather, Saviour Otu Adim, in Bakassi Local Government Area before she died.
The Cross River State Police Command confirmed the arrest on Friday, August 28, as investigators began examining the circumstances surrounding the child’s death.
Police spokesperson, ASP Eitokpah Sunday Akata, said the matter was reported to the command by Mrs Itoro Udofia, who alleged that Adim assaulted the child, resulting in her death.
“Preliminary investigation indicates that the suspect had allegedly accused the child of being a witch,” Akata said.
The allegation places the case within a disturbing pattern of violence against children in which accusations of witchcraft have been used to stigmatise, abuse and, in some cases, kill vulnerable children.
The police have not disclosed what prompted the accusation or what happened immediately before the alleged assault. Those questions are now part of the investigation.
Adim remains in police custody while the case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department in Calabar for further investigation.
The child’s remains have been deposited at a mortuary pending an autopsy, which is expected to help establish the medical cause of death and provide investigators with further evidence.
The police urged members of the public to protect children and report suspected abuse promptly rather than ignore warning signs until violence becomes fatal. The command also cautioned against spreading unverified claims or taking the law into their own hands.
The case comes against a wider background of concern over violence against children in Nigeria, where allegations of witchcraft and other forms of superstition have at times been used to justify severe abuse.
For investigators, however, the immediate issue is more direct: establishing exactly what happened to a six-year-old child who, according to the preliminary police account, was assaulted after being branded a witch.
Adim is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in accordance with the law.
