The Igando Police Division on Monday, detained one Paul Onyeama and his wife Adline for allegedly beating their adopted nine-year-old daughter, Faith, to death, on Sunday in their residence at Jemesi Papa Street.

A police source who is not authorised to speak on the matter told the Peoples Gazette on Tuesday that the couple’s landlady reported the incident before they were arrested while chartering a vehicle to convey the child’s corpse to the village for burial.

The source said the wife was later released to attend to their young children while her husband remains in police custody, adding that the couple showed no remorse for their action.

The source said the couple did not report the issue to any police station. 

He added, “A child living with them died, no cries that somebody died. It was their over 70-year-old landlady and people in the compound that came to report that they want to go and bury the nine-year-old girl in the village. The husband and the wife chartered a vehicle to take the child to their village for burial. It’s a case of suspected murder.

“People in their compound saw the way the couple maltreated her until she died, yet the couple showed remorse. They want to bury her. They were arrested but the woman was released to go home to cater to their children.”

It was also gathered that the couple maltreated the child for weeks despite her ill-health before her death. 

The couple were said to have rushed the victim to a hospital where doctors confirmed her dead upon arrival.

The Gazette gathered that the development led to the arrest of the woman and her husband after the matter was reported to the police.

The Lagos State police spokesperson, Abimbola Adebisi, did not respond to calls made to her mobile nor to a text message sent as of the time this report was filed.