Cross River: Man accuses 11-year-old twin daughters of witchcraft, poisons them
A 40-year-old man, Anyanime Festus has been arrested by police in Cross River state for allegedly poisoning his twins.
Festus was said to have poisoned his twin daughters after accusing them of witchcraft. He accused them of being responsible for his parents’ death.
Vanguard gathered that he fed the 11-year-old twins poison, which led to their deaths on January 10 and 11 in Akampka Local Government Area of Cross River.
Festus allegedly locked his children in the house for three days, before poisoning them at a bush path in Nyaghasan.
“The man told us that his daughters confessed to be witches and that he had no choice other than to kill them before they kill him. So he mixed acid with malt, took the twins to a bush path and gave them the substance to drink,” a source said.
One of the girls reportedly narrated to a witness that their father gave them a bitter black substance to drink.
“She said after a while they started having stomach ache and complained to their father, who then pretended as if he was going to get a remedy and in the process he left them there and never came back. Not too long after, they started feeling dizzy and then fell asleep. When she woke up and tapped her sister, she was no longer breathing,” another source said.
“The deceased said she had to drag her sister’s lifeless body from the bush to the road. It was in the process that a good Samaritan saw them and informed the police, who then took both of them to Akamkpa General Hospital, where she died at about 3:40a.m., January 11.”
Police Public Relations Officer, Irene Ugbo said Festus was arrested by the Divisional Police Station, Akampka, on Monday, before he was transferred to Police Headquarters in Calabar.
“We have apprehended the suspect; he was brought from Akamkpa this morning to the headquarters. He confessed that he gave his daughters acid mixed with malt to drink because he had a premonition that they would kill him like they killed his parents,” Ugbo said.
“He had the belief because they confessed to him that they were witches. So he carried out the dastardly act to save his life first.”
