A herbalist, Lajuwon Ogunleye, and his wife Adetutu Apalaya have been arrested by the Ogun State Police Command on charges of conspiring and killing their 7-year-old son, Pelumi Apalaya.
The couple were arrested alongside one Fatai Sefiu, following their neighbours’ suspicion of the little boy being used for ritual, as he reportedly slumped and died without being sick.
They were reportedly monitored by residents of the community after they took the boy to the bush for burial. It was gathered that some of the body parts of the boy who was buried in a “standing position,” were harvested by the herbalist who is his stepfather, his mother, and Sefiu who is his father’s friend.
According to the Ogun State Police spokesperson, Abimbola Oyeyemi, the Divisional Police Officer for Abigi Division, Tarkighir Joseph led detectives to the bush in Iwopin area of Ijebu waterside where the suspects were rounded up.
Oyeyemi said; “The suspects led policemen to where the victim was buried and it was discovered that the deceased was buried in standing position.
” On interrogation, the second suspect, Fatai Sefiu, told the detectives that the boy was actually used for ritual by the stepfather in connivance with the deceased boy’s mother.”
He stated further that the couple have reached a conclusion before he was co-opted into the business.
“The mother of the victim Adetutu Apalaya who first denied having knowledge of her husband’s plan to use her son for ritual was dumbfounded when asked whether or not she followed them to the bush where her son was buried and the mode of the burial of the boy.”
The Commissioner of Police, Kenneth Ebrimson, has ordered a transfer of the case to the homicide section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department(SCIID) for further investigation and prosecution.
