Father Beats His 7-Year- Old Son To Death Over Piece Of Fish

Nathaniel, a 7-year-old boy, died after being tortured to death by his father, Saviour Aniefok, over a piece of fish. According to reports, the incident occurred at the suspect’s home in Magodo Phase 2’s Shangisha neighborhood. Aniefok allegedly tormented the youngster after accusing him of stealing a piece of fish from one of his clients.

Aniefok, an artisan, had repaired a broken microwave oven for a customer who had given him a piece of fish to test it after it had been repaired. Aniefok allegedly forgot to return the fish to the customer when delivering the repaired microwave, so he brought it home to preserve it. According to one of the neighbours, Saviour enjoys torturing his two son.

“I still saw Nathaniel on Sunday afternoon. In fact, I gave him snacks to eat. Around 10pm, we started to hear Nathaniel shouting and crying for help; we also heard loud bangs on the floor and wall indicating that he was being beaten,” the neighbour said.

“As he was crying, Saviour was telling him to shut up. I personally thought their stepmother was at home to caution him. But later, we got to know she had travelled. Surprisingly, I heard Nathaniel died the following day.”

Another neighbor said the father arranged for Nathaniel’s burial the next day, adding that he went into hiding and took Charles with him to cover up the crime. “I was informed his father said he was sick; someone I saw playing in the compound,” he said. His death must have been caused by the injuries he acquired during the torture. After his kid died, we only saw Saviour on two occasions. We have also not seen the children’s stepmother.

“We learnt that the police have arrested his brother but we don’t know if Saviour has been arrested. I have seen him torturing one of the boys to the point of carrying the boy up and slamming him to the ground,” the neighbour said.

Another neighbor reported seeing Saviour and three other people attempting to transport Nathaniel to a location in the state around 4 a.m.

“I saw Nathaniel lying naked in the back seat of Saviour’s car. I observed that a pain relief substance had been used to massage his body because I smelt it. I was on my way to work when I saw them.”

Good Samaritans alerted the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development’s Child Protection Unit, which notified the Isheri Police Division to investigate the situation.

When contacted, Saviour denied torturing his son to death, claiming that Nathaniel was fleeing punishment for stealing his customer’s fish when he slipped and hit his head on tiles.

“I didn’t torture my son to death. After I returned from church on Sunday, I got home and realized my customer’s fish had been touched. I asked who touched it and Charles said he was not the one. I asked Nathaniel, but he also denied it. I was going inside my room when Nathaniel thought I wanted to get a cane and as he attempted to run, he fell and hit his head on the tiles.

“I observed he was behaving strangely around 2 am, so I quickly rushed him to a nearby hospital but it was locked. I rushed him to another hospital in Ketu, where he was referred to another hospital, but he died.”

“I didn’t go into hiding; my mother was sick, and I came home with my other child to see her and tell her what happened. I wanted to return to Lagos today but the IPOB stay-at-home order prevented me.” he added.

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