Father strangles 2 of his children to death as sacrifice to his dead father

A 35-year-old Thomas Matthew who lived at Mountain village opposite Dantata Camp, Asokoro, Abuja, claims his late father initiated him into an occult group. He also claimed that his father appeared to him and commanded him to sacrifice his children to him on different occasions. On October 7th, Mathew found fault with his wife, Bola, who is deaf and dumb, beat her up, then chased her out of the house.
He had previously killed their 2 month old son by strangling him to death last year and October 7th, 2016, he strangled their his four-month-old daughter, Mary Matthew to death.
According to the Commissioner of Police, of the Federal Capital Territory Police Command, Mr. Mohammed Mustafa the suspect was apprehended this time after his wife made a report at the Police station that he had killed their baby.
The wife also explained that he had tried to kill their 9 year old son in the past and luckily she caught him in the act then sent her son away to her mother’s home for him to be taken care of there.
With the help of a sign language expert, the wife, Bola, recalled how the suspect tried to kill their first son.
She said:
“I didn’t know that my husband is a cultist. I remember when he first tried to kill our first son, I reported the matter at the Garki Police Station. It was my mother who took the boy away from the house and he is still staying with her in Mararaba, Nasarawa State. Then I had another son last year. When he was two months old, he became sick. My husband killed him in September 2015. I didn’t know until he confessed. This year I had our daughter.
In the night of October 7, 2016, we were together in the house when suddenly he started beating me. I got injured and ran away to his elder sister’s house. Before I came back with his sister, he had strangled our baby to death. He locked the door and ran away. It was policemen from Asokoro Police Station, where I reported the case that broke the door and found the baby. We rushed the baby to Asokoro General Hospital. The doctor said the baby was dead. Now I have only one son left, Josiah Matthew. It was only God who saved me from the power of darkness.”
When interrogated, Matthew who hails from Kwande Local Government Area, Benue State said:
“I got married to my wife, Bola, and we were blessed with three kids. My father is a cultist and he initiated me into the occult. My father asked me to offer the children as sacrifice and mark of honour to him, promising he would make me become rich.
“It was a covenant that nobody knew, even my wife. My father gave me conditions that if anybody got to know or I revealed the covenant, that the covenant would be destroyed. From the time I had my first child, my father began disturbing me to offer my child to him as a sacrifice.
“I tried to kill my first child by strangling, but my wife caught me and reported to the police and her mother came to take the child away from the house. He has been staying with her in Mararaba, Nasarawa State.
Later my father appeared to me after I had my second son, John, who became sick. I strangled him to death in 2015. On October 7, 2016, my father appeared to me again that I should kill my only daughter. I was with my wife and then I started beating her and she ran away to my elder sister’s house and I locked the door and strangulated my four-month-old baby girl and she died.
I locked the entrance of the house and ran away. It was the youth in my area that arrested me and handed me over to the police. I wanted to kill my younger brother according to my father’s instruction. My father is still alive and he is in the village in Benue State.”
The police commissioner who confirmed the incident said the suspect would be charged to court soon.

Source: Sunday Sun