18 years old Boy rapes and kills landlord’s 4-year-old daughter in Imo (photos)

Sunday April 6, 2014 will remain indelible in the minds of members of Eze family of Uvuru in Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State as their four-year old daughter, Gloria, was hanged on a dwarf palm tree near their house after being violently defiled by their tenant.

The untimely death of the little girl was allegedly caused by one Franklin Njoku, aged 18 years from Ohekelem in Ngorokpala Local Government Area of the state who went to the community to sit for the ongoing West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) at Aboh Mbaise Secondary School at Uvuru.

According to the findings of the Nigerian Tribune, since Njoku’s village, Ohekelem in Ngorokpala, is quite a distance from Uvuru, his parents decided to rent a room to reduce the stress of having to commute between the two communities on a daily basis.

Njoku was able to secure accommodation in Eze’s compound. The Ezes received Njoku with open hands as one of their tenants. He became close to all members of the family, including the late Gloria.

However, it was gathered that Njoku began to show special interest in four-year old Gloria and was drawing her close to him with small gifts. The parents did not see anything out of the ordinary in this, thinking that it was just his way of appreciating the hand of fellowship extended to him by the family.

Things, however, got out of hand when one day, Njoku allegedly enticed Gloria with sweets and lured her into a nearby bush where he allegedly had carnal knowledge of the girl after which he strangled her to death.

To cover his tracks, Njoku was said to have tied a rope round the neck of the little girl and subsequently hanged the lifeless body of Gloria on a dwarf palm tree to give the impression that his victim committed suicide.

However, the lid blew open on his act as a neighbour was said to have seen him while trying to hang the body of the girl on the palm tree.

The neighbour raised the alarm and the suspect was quickly rounded up by some youths in the community. He would have been lynched by the angry youth if not for the timely intervention of the victim’s family and some other prominent citizens in the area who pleaded with them to exercise restraint. He was subsequently handed over to the police.

Parading the suspect at the police headquarters in Owerri, last week, the state commissioner of police, Alhaji Abdulmajid Ali, said the suspect lured the victim into the bush, defiled her and subsequently killed her.

When questioned by newsmen, the suspect admitted to committing the crime saying he was pushed into doing it by Satan. He, however, pleaded for leniency.

However, the commissioner, while fielding questions from reporters, said that the suspect would be charged to court as soon as the police concluded their investigation into the matter.