A 27-year-old fisherman, Fatai Yussuf, has been remanded in prison custody for killing his six-week-old daughter.

Mr. Yussuf was accused of killing the baby by throwing her into a lagoon because she was sick.

The Chief Magistrate, P.E. Nwaka, gave the remand order at a Magistrates’ Court in Yaba, Lagos on Wednesday.

The accused is facing a count charge of murder, but the court did not take his plea.

The judge ordered that the defendant be kept at the Ikoyi Custodial Centre, pending legal advice from the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP).

He adjourned the case until February 23.

Earlier, the Prosecutor, ASP Thomas Nurudeen, told the court that the defendant committed the offence on December 27, 2020, at Ajanaku lagoon in Badagry, near Lagos.

According to him, the defendant’s wife had dropped their ailing six weeks old baby with him to look after, so that she could do her business.

He said the defendant had taken the baby and his first son to Ajanaku lagoon and threw her there in the presence of the boy who tried to stop him.

Mr. Nurudeen told the court that when his wife returned home, he lied to her and his brother that he had taken the deceased to hospital.

After discovering the defendant had thrown the baby into the lagoon, his elder brother reported the case to the police.

The offence contravenes Section 222 and punishable under Section 223 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015 (Revised).

(NAN)