Niger police detain security guard after girl found dead in church well

Police in Niger State have detained a 26-year-old security guard over the alleged defilement and death of an 11-year-old girl in Suleja, the command’s spokesperson said on Friday. SP Wasiu Abiodun said officers received a missing-person report at Suleja Police Division on September 20, after the girl failed to return home. He said she had left her home the previous day to attend a relative’s birthday ceremony in the area.

A pastor of the Apostolic Church, Suleja, later reported that a dead body had been found inside a well on the church premises. Police and officials from Suleja Local Government Council visited the site and recovered the body, Abiodun said. The body was taken to Suleja General Hospital, where it was identified as that of the missing girl, according to the spokesperson.

He said preliminary investigations indicated that the suspect allegedly defiled the child before placing her body in the well. Abiodun identified the suspect as Godwin Dauda, who works as a security guard at the church. He said Dauda allegedly fled after the body was recovered, apparently attempting to avoid arrest.

Police subsequently arrested him around Kuje in the Federal Capital Territory at about 8 p.m. on September 23, the spokesperson said. Abiodun added that the suspect allegedly confessed during interrogation to luring the girl into his security room.

According to the police account, Dauda told investigators that he defiled the girl and that she later died, after which he allegedly disposed of her body in the well. The command said the investigation was continuing and that the suspect would be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department in Minna for further inquiries and possible prosecution if found culpable.