PHOTOS: How 4 year-old-girl was beaten to death in Ondo during deliverance from evil spirit
The 4-year-old girl who was beaten to death on Wednesday in Akure, the Ondo State capital has been identified as Testimony Toke Babalola.
It was gathered that before the gruesome death of late Testimony, she had been subjected to constant torture in the hands of her parents, particularly, her father in a bid to cast out an evil spirit from her.
The Parish Priest of Mary Queen of Angels Catholic Church, Akure, Reverend Father Mathew Ologun who disclosed this on Friday to the leadership of the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists, NAWOJ, Ondo State revealed that the girl’s mother is a member of the Catholic faith.
On Thursday, Testimony was rushed by a woman, suspected to be her mother to the Akure Annex of the Ondo State University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital, UNIMED.
The woman escaped with the corpse of the girl after she was declared, Dead On Arrival, DOA, by medical personnel on duty.
While stating that the little girl had serially gone through abuse, Rev Father Ologun said that the church had two months ago got hint of the ill-treatment meted out to the late testimony through the church children’s caregiver, who noticed so many scars all over her body.
The Rev. Father also revealed that upon investigation by the church, the father of the girl, identified as Felix Babalola, who attends a white garment church (Cherubim and Seraphim) within Nao area, along Oba Adesida road in Akure owned up to had inflicted injuries on the girl which he claimed was done in line with his church (Cherubim and Seraphim) deliverance style.
Corroborating, Rev Father Ologun’s position, the head of the children’s department of the Catholic Church who craved anonymity, explained that she observed the girl’s predicament in June during the church children’s day anniversary.
According to her, upon calling the attention of the girl’s mother to the startling discovery, she argued that injuries were due to the punishment she used to get from her father for being stubborn, adding that they were trying to instill in her, moral lessons.
However, unknown to the church the beating and torture of late Testimony continued until she was rushed to the hospital dead.
Meanwhile, following the death of Testimony, when contacted on the telephone, the girl’s father told the catholic priest that his church (Cherubim and Seraphim) told him that his daughter is possessed and needs deliverance, hence the constant beating.
He was said to have also claimed that the girl was over-pampered by her grandmother who she had been residing with in Ikare-Akoko in Akoko North-East Local Government Area of the state since she was 9-months-old before she came live with them recently in Akure.
The effort of the Rev. Father who had been monitoring the movement of the father of the girl since the news broke in order to hand him over to the police proved abortive as he absconded after being trailed to Benin garage in Akure.