47-year-old Thompson Agena from Nasarawa State, has been arrested for the murder of his six year old daughter and only child, Mercy.
According to Sun newspaper, Thompson killed his own child on the request of his lover whom he wanted to marry as a second wife.
The suspect who is a carpenter, had gotten married to his first wife, Cecilia in 2005 with whom he had their first child, Mercy in 2011. They waited for many years before Cecilia conceived for the second child in 2015. Sadly, Cecilia died during child birth in April 2016. She bled to death after giving birth to a baby boy.
''I got one of my younger sisters to help her at home when she returns back, and I painted the house in bright colours. I did all I could to make sure that it was comfortable for my wife and our new baby. At the hospital, Cecilia had a prolonged labour, finally giving birth to a 4.6kg baby boy, but she continued bleeding, suffering a postpartum hemorrhage, and at 1:23 am, had died of blood loss'' Thompson said
A few days after she passed on, the little boy also died. A devasted Thompson buried the little boy in his village and continued with his life, taking care of their daughter Cecilia.
A year after his wife’s death, Thompson enrolled for a part-time diploma programme at the Nasarawa State Polytechnic where he met Joy Orkuma, a native of Guma Local Government Area, Benue State. They fell in love, and soon after, she became pregnant for him. When he asked her to marry him, Joy said the only condition would be if he eliminates his daughter, Cecilia. Joy accused Mercy of being a witch and that she might kill her baby after she gives birth. Joy told Thompson that Cecilia usually appears to her in her dream whenever she sleeps over at his house.
Thompson carried out the dastard act on February 22nd.
While she was sleeping, Thompson carried his six year old daughter and dumped her in a well. His dastard act was discovered by one of their neighbors.
Upon his arrest, Thompson said he regrets doing Joy's bidding. He attributed his heinous action to an overpowering love for Joy and the fear of losing her and the pregnancy she had for him.
When contact, Joy who is currently on the run, sounded unrepentant. She said she only told Thompson to take his daughter away since she cannot live in the same house with her. According to her, what Thompson did was the best.
“I told him that if I must marry him, Mercy will have to leave,” she asserted, “[because] she always appear in my dreams each time I pass a night in her father’s house. So when I became pregnant for him, I told him that I can’t deliver a baby in the house for Mercy to kill.” she said
In the meantime, one of Thompson's brothers, David Agena, said his elder brother was not the biological father of late Mercy. According to David, the late Cecilia Agena was two months pregnant when she married Thompson. He alleged that while they were dating, Cecilia was seeing two ther men and that when she got pregnant, she forced it on Thompson who took responsibility because he loved her.
“We all knew what happened, but that is a long story. I don’t want to talk about that now. No sane human being will kill his daughter because of a girlfriend, [I mean] how can you do a thing like that? Cecilia was a nice woman, godly and hard working; she loved her husband so much, in fact, they both love themselves. I don’t know what came over him.“About three guys, including my elder brother, were dating Cecilia and when she got pregnant. It was confusing who actually was responsible. But she insisted it was my elder brother, who out of love, accepted it and got married to her. Later, we heard that he was not the one. So, there was that problem. But, my elder brother and his late wife were the best of friends. There is no reason for him to do what he has done because of a woman.” David said
Thompson is currently in police custody and will be arraigned in court for murder.
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