Police Officers in Lagos State yesterday arrested an 18-year-old boy, who strangulated a 12-year-old girl in Badagry area of the state for for money ritual.

The suspect alleged that a certain Surulere-based pastor, sent him to get faeces of a strangulated teenager, with a promise to reward him with N100, 000. The suspect, Ikechukwu Friday, was on Tuesday paraded before newsmen by the image maker in charge of the state police command, Ngozi Braide, who stated that the police had also arrested a pastor.

The suspect, had, on the 30th of December, 2013, lured the girl with a food vendor to NITEL’s abandoned building in Badagry and strangled her to death.

Friday denied that he had wanted to use the slain girl for ritual purpose, but insisted that he needed money and approached the pastor, who asked him to strangle a teenage girl to death and come back with her excreta and collect money.

According to him, “I attend a popular church around Ketu Street, Aguda but I live with my parents in Badagry. I just finished secondary school and I have been very broke so I approached the pastor for money but he told me that I should strangulate a little girl.

“He said when strangulating the girl, she would pass out faeces. The pastor said I should obtain the faeces and bring it to him. He said if I could do this, he would give me N100, 000.

“So, on December 30, 2013, I approached a young girl, Bose Ogoja. Her mother sells food in Badagry and I usually patronize them, so she trusted me. I told the girl that I wanted to show her something and that she should follow me. So I took her to an abandoned NITEL building and locked the door.

“I pressed her neck tightly and she passed out faeces. I was, however, not able to get the faeces because I was caught before I could escape.”

The suspect, an indigene of Onitsha, Anambra State, pleaded for mercy, adding that this was his first crime.

State Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, said the boy was arrested by neighbours in the area and handed over to the Badagry Police Division.

Braide said the pastor, who allegedly gave the boy the instruction, had been arrested and was already cooperating with the police.

While displaying the gruesome picture of the slain girl, Braide said: “He was arrested in an uncompleted building. The security guard manning the building told the police that he saw the boy entering the building with the girl.

“He said a few minutes later, he heard the girl screaming and later saw the boy leaving. The security guard raised the alarm and the neighbours were alerted and they arrested the boy.”

On entering the building, the discovered that the girl was dead.

“The picture of the girl’s corpse shows that the girl was naked and defecated on the floor.”