Residents of Kurimin-Mashi in Kaduna metropolis have been thrown into mourning following the discovery of the lifeless body of a six-year-old girl at a burial ground in the area.
Kurmin-Mashi is in the Kaduna North Local Government Area of the state.
The victim, Aisha Ya’u, was suspected to have been raped to death and her body dumped at the cemetery.
Her remains were found on Sunday evening.
A similar incident took place in the area about four months ago, when another girl was also raped to death and her remains found in a mosque. To date, no arrest has been made in connection with that incident.
A source, while narrating how life was snuffed out of the six-year-old, said little Aisha returned from an Islamic school (Islamiyya) on Sunday around 11 am.
“She changed into her normal clothes and went out to play in the neighbourhood until a few hours later when her mother discovered that she was missing.
“The search for the girl began until she was found dead later at a burial ground close to their house by a farmer, with sand all over her body,” the source added.
As of the time of filing this report, efforts to get Aisha’s mother, Amaratu Ya’u, to talk on the matter failed, as she was said to be in shock.
The state Commissioner of Human Services and Social Development, Hafsat Muhammad-Baba, expressed shock at the incident.
She called on the Commissioner of Police, Umar Muri, to deploy operatives with a view to apprehending the perpetrators of the act, which she said had become a recurring incident in the community.
She said, “Right thinking Kaduna people are sad about this unfortunate development. While we are still waiting for the arrest of criminal elements who did a similar thing in the same area during the lockdown, this one happened again. It is unfortunate, to say the least.
“This is coming at a time the current administration is doing everything possible to protect our children in Kaduna State.
“With cruelty like this, our children are not safe any longer because this can happen to any child, which is why our security agents must do their work to apprehend the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
“I know the police have a way of investigating this kind of incident. This is important because the perpetrators of these two sad occurrences must not be allowed to do the third one.”
The Kaduna Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Mohammed Jalige, confirmed the incident.
Jalige, however, noted that it was too early to attribute the cause of her death to defilement.
He said the command had gone to a magistrate’s court to sign a coroner inquest form, which would enable the hospital to carry out a series of examinations on the corpse.
“After the examination, the hospital can then release the corpse to the parents for burial,” he added.
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