A 47-year-old carpenter, Thompson Agena, has been arrested for killing his 6-year-old only child, Mercy, to win a woman’s love in Nasarawa State.
The mother of the child and late his wife, Cecilia, died in 2016. A year after, he met one Joy Orkuma, from Benue State. The pair fell in love, and soon after, she became pregnant.
However, Orkuma asked for the elimination of his only child. In the night of February 22, Agena did her bidding. He picked Mercy who was in deep slumber and dumped her inside a well.
Her body was discovered the next day when a farmer named, Joseph Kula, wanted to use the well.
Agena, since arrested by the police and charged to court, attributed his action to an overpowering love for his new girlfriend and the unbearable phobia of losing her and the pregnancy she had for him.
According to the suspect, his girlfriend argued that she wouldn’t want to raise a family with a witch around her. Agena alleged she had threatened to abort the pregnancy and quit their relationship if he failed to take action.
When spoken to over the phone, Joy Orkuma, who is currently on the run, she conveyed no sympathy about the situation. She claimed she only suggested her incompatibility with Mercy, whose behaviour she described as unusual for a girl of her age.
“I told him that if I must marry him, Mercy will have to leave,” she asserted, “because she always appears in my dreams each time I pass a night in her father’s house.
So when I became pregnant for him, I told him that I can’t deliver a baby in the house for Mercy to kill.”
According to her, the father’s murder of his daughter was the best thing to do.
While regretting his action, Agena said:
“My wife will never forgive me in her grave. I have betrayed her trust and love for me. I regret buying into Joy’s devilish ideas.”
