Sundaymail Editor
A 36-year-old man, Kingsley Essien, has been arrested in Nigeria for allegedly trafficking his wife to Mali for prostitution and subsequently selling his two-year-old son for N600 000 (US$1 445).
The police spokesperson, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the suspect was arrested following the report lodged at Agbara divisional headquarters by the suspect’s wife, Bright Essien.
Oyeyemi said the wife told the police that her husband informed her that he had secured a job for her in Bamako Mali, last year in October.
He quoted her as saying that she did not suspect any foul play because the man had assisted many people to that country for greener pastures before.
According to the police, the wife said when she got to Mali, she discovered that she had been sold to a human trafficking cartel headed by a woman at the rate of N1,4 million (US$3 372).
“While in Mali, she was forced into prostitution but later found her way to Nigeria embassy in Bamako where she was assisted back to her native country.
“On getting to Nigeria, she discovered that her two-year-old son whom she had left in the care of her husband was nowhere to be found,” Oyeyemi said.
Following the report, Kingsley was arrested.
“On interrogation, the suspect confessed to have committed the crime. He further confessed that he sold his two-year-old son at the rate of N600 000,” said the police.
Oyeyemi added that the commissioner of police, Lanre Bankole, had ordered the transfer of the suspect to the anti-human trafficking and child labour unit of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for discreet investigation.
He equally ordered that the buyer of the son must be traced and arrested in order to recover the stolen child.
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Baby buyer saw child as ‘passport’ to the UK
Precious Nkunika, the 28-year-old woman accused of buying a baby after her own died at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH), was reportedly promised marriage by her United Kingdom-based boyfriend upon giving birth.
Precious, who used to work for the judiciary, has a three-year-old child with another man she previously co-habited with, her close friends have disclosed.
The friends say she saw her new baby as a passport to join her boyfriend in the UK.
“She’s been desperate to marry her UK boyfriend, and ‘stealing’ another newborn child was her only option to keep that man,” one friend said.
“Her relationship with the UK man was serious and we hear he even paid K7 000 as down payment for dowry.”
Precious reportedly complained bitterly to hospital officials when her baby died after giving birth at UTH, saying her plans of getting married to her UK-based boyfriend were now ruined as the baby was their bond.
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Man commits suicide after being denied conjugal rights
A 43-year-old man identified as Fabiano James committed suicide at Lumbadzi in Lilongwe after his wife allegedly denied him his conjugal rights.
The man is alleged to have hanged himself with a shirt in his house at Mgalamuka Village, Traditional Authority Mkukula in Lumbadzi.
Sergeant Felix Kwinyani, Lumbadzi Police Station public relations officer, said James, two years ago, married a woman who has three children.
Early this month, the wife went to her home village in order to look after her mother who was sick.
On the morning of May 18, James’ son whilst preparing to go to school was surprised to see his father hanging under the roof in his bedroom.
The child informed the neighbours about the incident who reported it to the police.
Lumbadzi police detectives together with a medical officer rushed to the scene where they found a suicide note stating that he decided to terminate his life because his wife was denying him his conjugal rights just like his ex-wife.
Post-mortem results show that James died due to suffocation secondary to strangulation.
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World’s oldest unopened present
A great-grandma may be the owner of the world’s oldest unopened Easter egg.
Hillion Fern was just 13 when she was given the ornately decorated chocolate, but could not bring herself to eat it because it looked so nice.
The egg is still in its original cellophane and Hillion has not even eaten the bag of toffees and chocolates that it came with.
She now pays around £80 a month to have the egg kept in a cool storage container to prevent it from melting.
Hillion said: “I still remember the day I was given it. It was simply too pretty that I did not want to eat it.
“I thought to myself, ‘I’ll keep it until Whitsun’ but I then never ate it, so then I thought, ‘Oh, I will keep it until Christmas’ and then Christmas came and went.
“It became a bit of a challenge after that to see how long I could hold out. I am quite impressed with my willpower because I have always loved chocolate.”
Her father Aubrey Daulman bought the egg in 1960 from a local shop called Sharps who decorated it with yellow icing in the shape of flowers.
She said: “The sugar daffodils used to be bright yellow but now they are turning a bit brown but the egg is still intact and all of the chocolates and toffees are still inside.
“I couldn’t eat it now, even if I wanted to, but it has just become part of the family now and I will keep it forever.
“There was something special about the egg I wanted to keep and after a while, it became too precious to eat.
“I’m sure it’s a world-beater. I’ve heard of old Easter eggs before but never unwrapped. I’m confident this is a record.
“To protect the egg from melting I paid for it to go into storage. It might seem silly but I want to make sure it remains in perfect condition.
“It’s in Warwickshire but I have moved to be nearer my daughter in Wales but when I did live nearby I would actually go and visit it occasionally.”
Hillion moved from Nuneaton, Warwickshire, with her now late husband David to Cardigan, Wales, in 2011. — Wires.
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