In the Imota neighborhood of Ikorodu, Lagos State, three children of the same parents were found dead inside their landlord's Toyota RAV4.
The victims, Uche (3), Marvelous (5), and Lazarus (8), all children of one Mr. Osondu, were reportedly playing within the compound when they entered the SUV and suffocated. This information was provided by Daily Trust.
On Tuesday, May 23, at approximately 11 a.m., a witness claimed the kids were playing with their cousin Blessing (11), within the complex, before getting into the RAV4.
Nobody, he claimed, could explain why Blessing, the oldest of the group, chose not to get inside the vehicle and did not call for help when she saw that her cousins were locked inside.
According to other neighbors, Blessing did not sound the alarm because she was afraid of receiving a whipping for entering the area.
According to reports, a mob attacked the landlord and thrashed him until police arrived to save him.
SP Benjamin Hundeyin, spokesman for the Lagos State Police Command, verified the event and stated that the Officer in Charge (O/C) Police Family Support Unit (FSU) received a distress call from unidentified callers regarding a possible Sudden and Unnatural Death (SUD) caused by the suffocation of young children.
He said that a police team and FSU officials arrived on the location and encountered a crowd surrounding a man named Moses' home in Ikorodu.
The father of the murdered children claimed to be an occupant at the aforementioned home and to be from the Izii village in the state of Ebonyi. Around 11 a.m., the kids were playing with their cousin, Blessing Hyacinth, an 11-year-old girl who is Mr. Osondu's foster daughter, in the landlord's RAV4 SUV that was parked in a gated and fenced-off enclosure, according to the PPRO.
"One of them accidentally depressed the vehicle's central lock button, which resulted in the trio being locked inside until they died of suffocation. The three kids were brought to the Ikorodu General Hospital, where doctors pronounced them dead and their bodies were transferred to the morgue for an autopsy in front of their father.
He said, "The landlord was taken to the station for protective custody and the RAV4 SUV was taken to the station as well."
On May 24, 2023, Don-prof Kesh from Ebonyi State uploaded a picture of the girl in a Facebook post in which he expressed his sorrow.