SS3 student commits suicide in Ikorodu, Lagos
Neighbours, who spoke to Sunday PUNCH, accused Moliku of serially assaulting Sherifat, noting that she became frustrated and took Sniper after he repeated the act last Sunday morning.
It was learnt that Sherifat and her two siblings started living with Moliku after their mother left the family, following their father’s death. Moliku, the eldest child in the family, is in his 40s.
Our correspondent gathered that Sherifat helped Moliku’s wife to get some loaves of bread she would sell at a bakery within the neighbourhood and placed them somewhere in the apartment.
She incurred Moliku’s anger when rodents tampered with one of the loaves, a resident said.
“She had been living with him since their father died. She was a kid then. Her siblings used to live with him too. They left out of frustration because he always beat them,” the neighbour, who spoke on condition of anonymity, disclosed.
He stated that there were marks of canes on Sherifat’s body, adding that Moliku hurriedly took her corpse to their hometown in Ijebu, Ogun State, where it was buried the following morning.
He said, “After she returned from the bakery on Sunday morning, he beat her again because rats ate part of a loaf. It was out of frustration that the lady took a poison. She died on arrival at the hospital and he quickly too her corpse to their hometown in Ijebu for burial. He knew he would have been queried if the police inspected the body and saw the marks. Neighbours were bitter that Sherifat died that way without any action taken against the man.”
The chairman of the community development association, Mr. Adekunle Adeigba, said he was not aware of the assault until the incident happened.
In an interview with the punch correspondent, Moliku admitted beating his stepsister that day but said it was not responsible for the suicide.
He said he suspected she was pregnant and was afraid to disclose it as he had warned her against unwanted pregnancy.
Moliku stated, “I had been taking care of her since she was small. Would I pray that she die now? I didn’t beat her over bread. I sent her on an errand and called her on the phone but she didn’t pick up the calls. That was why I beat her. I gave her three strokes of the cane on the palm. It happened in the morning and we took breakfast and lunch together. I then went to have a haircut.
I suffered a lot on Sherifat and her siblings. She was in SS3 and was preparing to sit WASSCE. Their mother left them at tender ages. I was the one taking care of them. My children have been in sadness since she died. Even when the school was on holiday and I told her to visit her mum, she would not go. If I had been maltreating her, wouldn’t she go? There was no mark of canes on her body.
“I don’t know what could have made her to commit suicide but I thought she was probably pregnant. I always begged her not to get pregnant untimely.”
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