Secondary school student abducts, kills 5-year-old boy after collecting ransom

A 17-year-old secondary school student, Elijah Anthony, has explained why he killed a five-year-old primary school pupil, Dawon Pam, of Bukuru community of Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State.

The suspect, who is a neighbour to the family of the victim, disclosed that he killed the boy because of economic hardship.

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“Hardship and suffering was what prompted me to commit the crime. I later realized that the victim who happened to be my neighbour had already seen my face and might expose me if released.

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Narrating how he and his friend kidnapped and killed the victim, he said, “On the 13th of this month (October), my friend and I planned and kidnapped the boy while he was moving around and we hid him in an uncompleted building.

“When the parents and relatives realized that the boy was nowhere to be found, they started searching for him. I pretend as if I didn’t know where he was. I even participated in searching for him. We later demanded ransom and five days after, I killed the boy. I strangled him to death and buried him,” the suspect added.

While parading the suspect alongside other 36 suspects, the state commissioner of police, Okoro Julius, said the suspect had collected N400,000 ransom before killing the victim, adding that the police were able to arrest him after tracking a phone number that was used to negotiate the ransom.

The CP also explained that the kidnappers had earlier asked for N5m ransom, but was able to receive NN400,000, adding that upon the receipt of the report, a team of police operatives led by SP Okala Ugbede swung into action and was able to track the kidnappers.

“On 23/10/2023, one of the culprits, Elijah Anthony, 17yrs, was arrested. Upon interrogation, he admitted to have committed the crime,” he said.

The police commissioner said in the last one month, the command arrested 39 suspects, recovered 11 fabricated rifles, seven locally-made pistols and ammunition, calling on citizens to cooperate with the police to get rid of criminals in the state.