Operatives of the Ebonyi Police Command have arrested a 33-year-old man identified as Martin Odanwu, for allegedly killing his 11-year-old stepson, Destiny.

Odanwu was said to have beaten the boy to death for playing outside their home at odd hours.

The incident occurred at Amaofia Ngbo in the Ohaukwu Local Government Area of the state.

The suspect was arrested by the Ohaukwu Police Division and taken to the State Police Headquarters in Abakaliki, where he is currently being detained.

The State Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs Loveth Odah, who confirmed the incident, said the Commissioner of Police, Aliyu Garba had ordered a full investigation into the killing.

Odah said, “On 27 July 2021, one Chijioke from Umuogudu Akpu, Okposhi Eshi in Ngbo, Ohaukwu local government and one Ekene Ituma of the same address went to the police station in Ohaukwu and reported that around 1:30 am, they heard the voice of a woman crying, that when they went to know what happened, they saw a lifeless boy by name Edeh Destiny of 11 years on the ground. That when they asked the woman, she said the boy was beaten to death by her husband; Martin Odanwu, 33, of Amaofia Ngbo.

“The woman said the man is her husband and not the father of the boy. The woman confirmed that she is a mother of seven, that the man is her husband. She said that when she got married to the man, she had three children before that boy, that along the line, she had issues which kept them away and she mistakenly took in for another man but that she has resolved the issue and the boy has been accepted back by her husband.

“I asked her why the man beat the child to death and she said that the husband was sick and she had some illness in her and she wanted her own family to help her and treat the illness. So, all of them including her children went to her parent’s house and spent about four months before the man went back to their own house. The man went to the market to buy things and on his way coming, he saw his children and started quarrelling with them about why they were outside by that time and caught the other boy and beat him to death.

“Ohaukwu Division has arrested the suspect and handover to the police. As I am talking to you, Martin Odanwu is in the cell. The Commissioner of Police has ordered full-scale investigation into the matter to unravel the circumstances behind the killing.”