Carpenter Arrested For Beating His Son to Death with a Belt

Thirty nine-year-old Emmanuel Edet has been arraigned before an Ebute Meta Magistrate’s court for allegedly beating his 12-year-old child, Samuel, to death with a belt.

According to Punch, Emmanuel got provoked after he was told that his young son, who he had asked to learn carpentry work, had not been showing up at his teacher's workshop. Samuel’s boss had told Emmanuel that his son was instead, in the habit of going to swim at the beach. So on that fateful day, around 10pm, the father in a bid to correct Samuel, began lashing him with a belt, while his pregnant mother reportedly locked the gate to prevent Samuel from running away while the punishment lasted.

The police told the court that the boy fell down, hit his head against the floor and died before he could get medical attention. A security man within the neighbourhood, who observed when the parents were carrying him into a van, alerted the police who then arrested the couple. It was learnt that the six-month-old pregnant mother was released as the police said  she had no hand in the death of the child.

Emmanuel was arraigned on one count of murder which reads, “That you, Emmanuel Edet, on February 11, 2014, at about 10pm, at Atican Beach, Okun-Ajah, Lekki, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did unlawfully kill one Samuel Edet, aged 12 years, by beating him with a belt which made him fall down and hit his head against the floor.” His plea was not taken and he's remanded in prison pending legal advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecution.