The Lagos State Police Command is currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the mysterious death of three siblings of same parents on Tuesday who were found dead inside a car belonging to their landlord in the Imota area of Ikorodu, Lagos state.
Nigeriacrime.com gathered that the deceased children, Lazarus, aged 8, Marvelous, aged 5, and Uche aged 3, were found dead hours after they were last seen playing in the compound.
According to reports the children while playing entered the car, a RAV 4, and mistakenly press the central lock and thereby trapping themselves inside in the process.
The children were playing with their cousin, identified as Blessing, 11, a foster daughter to the deceased father. around 11 am on Tuesday, inside the compound before they entered the Landlord’s RAV4 SUV.
Nobody could explain why Blessing, who is the most senior did not enter the car and also failed to raise the alarm when she discovered that her cousins were trapped inside the car.
According to one of the tenants’ names withheld, the landlord Mr Moses allegedly left his vehicle unlocked before going into his apartment in a fenced and gated compound, before one of them unconsciously pressed the central lock button of the vehicle and it ended up locking all of them. They were discovered dead inside the car” the witness said.
Sequel to development, an angry mob pounced on the landlord and beat him to pop before he was rescued by some policemen on patrol duty.
Confirming the incident, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said the Officer in Charge (O/C) Police Family Support Unit (FSU), around 7.40 pm on Tuesday, got a distress call from an anonymous caller of a suspected Sudden and Unnatural Death (SUD)/Suffocation of under-aged children.
He said the Patrol team and FSU personnel swiftly moved to the scene, where they met a mammoth crowd that besieged the residence of Moses, in Ikorodu.
He said the crowd had allegedly over the death of Lazarus, 8, Marvelous, a girl of 5 years and Uche, 3, all children of Mr Osondu.
“The father of the deceased children said he is from Izii community in Ebonyi State and tenant at the aforementioned address. The children were playing with their cousin, Blessing Hyacinth, a girl of about 11 years, a foster daughter to Mr Osondu at about 11 am inside the Landlord’s RAV4 SUV with Reg. parked in a fenced and gated compound.
“One of them inadvertently pressed the central lock button of the vehicle and it ended up locking the trio till they got suffocated. The three children were taken to IKorodu General Hospital, where they were confirmed dead by medics and their corpses were deposited at the same hospital’s mortuary for autopsy in the presence of their father.
“The landlord was brought to the station for protective custody and the RAV4 SUV recovered to the station for safekeeping. Meanwhile, a Patrol team led by the operations Officer has been deployed to the neighbourhood to ensure there’s no breakdown of law and order” he added.