How ritualists killed 78-year-old widow in Ekiti

Individuals suspected to be ritualists have killed a 78-year-old widow, Mrs Sabianah Aranilewa, in the Odo Oja area of Ikere Ekiti in Ekiti State.

It was gathered that the suspected ritualists snatched the septugenarian from her house on May 29 and dumped her lifeless body in a canal beside her house after slitting her throat and allegedly draining her blood.

A source revealed the alarm was raised when the woman, whose clothes were seen outside the house with doors ajar could not be found either at home or her shop, adding that the woman’s lifeless body was discovered by her relatives after they had searched for her for several hours.

A son of the deceased, Mr Eyitope Aranilewa, said his mother got missing on Friday, May 29 around 6.45am while washing clothes in front of her residence on Moshood Road in Ikere-Ekiti.

The bereaved son said it was one of her mother’s friends who lived around her shop that raised the alarm after discovering that she could not be found. He said, “A search party was swiftly organised, but efforts to find her proved abortive until about 4pm when her corpse was found inside a shallow stream.

“Her throat was slit and the corpse dumped in the shallow stream flowing through the back of her home.

“On that day, I got a distress call that my mother was missing and the matter was instantly reported to the police. It was while at the police station that information came that her corpse was found at a place not far from her house.”

The state Police Public Relation Officer, Sunday Abutu, who confirmed the incident, described it as unfortunate. Abutu said the corpse of the deceased had been recovered and deposited in the morgue of the state specialist hospital, Ikere Ekiti, adding that investigation had started into the case.

The PPRO, who stated that the State Criminal Investigation Department had been directed to take over the case, said, “Some suspects have been arrested in connection with the incident although they have not made any confessional statement.”