Man kills his 2 children over witchcraft

A man has killed his two children in Igbogene community, a suburb of Yenagoa, Bayelsa State over allegation of witchcraft .
The police have arrested the 42-year-old man, Samuel Sunday Otasi, for the murder after allegedly giving them an insecticide to drink.
Otasi, from Agbobiri community in Biseni clan, Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, allegedly connived with his cousin, Levi, tied three of his children to a tree in the bush along Gloryland Drive, Igbogene, and forcefully gave them the poison to drink.

Otasi has, however, denied being involved in the murder stating that Levi could have been responsible for the murder when he told him to return the children back to the village. His children, Success, 14, Miracle, 12, and 10-year-old Godstime, were alleged to have been bewitched by their mother, who is separated from Otasi, in the bid to destroy the family.
It was gathered that Otasi had gone to Agbobiri on December 29 to pick the children for a ‘deliverance’ service at a church. But on the way, he and Levi, who accompanied him from the village, allegedly stopped the bus and led the children into the bush, where they were tied to a tree and forced to drink the insecticide before they abandoned them to die.

Findings indicated that Success miraculously came out of the bush and crawled to the roadside, where he was found unconscious and taken to hospital on December 31, 2018. Success after regaining consciousness ,narrated his ordeal to police officers, and a search was conducted in the bush, where the decomposing bodies of Miracle and Godstime were recovered.
Police arrested Preye Ayah, said to be a cousin to Sunday, and he took them to Sunday’s house in Okarki, where he was arrested. Levi, however, could not be arrested.

Otasi, in an interview, admitted that he took the children from the village to Yenagoa for a deliverance service but told Levi to return them to the village when the deliverance could not hold. He feigned ignorance about the death of two of his children and said Levi should be held responsible for anything that happened to his children.
Success, at the hospital, alleged that his father and their uncle, Levi, led them to the forest, where they were tied to the tree and given poison to drink.

The commissioner of police in the state, Mr. Aminu Pai Saleh, who led journalists to the scene of the crime, said the three children have been subjected to all kinds of harassment in the community over allegations of witchcraft. He said no parent had the right to take the life of any child, adding that investigation was ongoing and the law would take its course.