A 15-year-old murder suspect, Gift Edosomwan, who escaped from the Edo State Children Remand home at Ugbekun, in Benin, has been re-arrested along with an accomplice.

Edosomwan had been arrested for allegedly killing a 28-year-old woman, Mrs. Itohan Enagbare, and her three-year-old daughter, Iwinosa, but reportedly escaped from the juvenile home last Saturday.

‎The suspect and others at large had on December 9, 2015, allegedly murdered the victims at their residence on Osaze Street, off Dumez Road, in Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of the state.

‎Iwinosa was said to have been stabbed by the assailants when she screamed at the sight of her dying mother.

‎It was learnt that the landlady of the house where the incident occurred had earlier been arrested, but was later released when Gift (suspect) was arrested.

‎It was gathered that the teenager, who was said to be living with the landlady, had been arraigned before an Evbouriaria Magistrates’s Court but was remanded pending the advice of the Department of Public Prosecution.

 

Counsel to the Enagbare family, Jefferson Uwoghiren, had raised the alarm of the escape of the killer teenager and called on law enforcement agencies to re-arrest the teenager and those responsible for his alleged escaped.

 

Efforts to reached the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Osifo Abiodun, were unsuccessful.

 

He had also yet to respond to a text message sent to his telephone number.

 

Our correspondent, however, gathered that the suspect was re-arrested at about 12am on Sunday.

 

It was learnt that he was admitted into the facility on January 25, 2016, after being arraigned before  the magistrates’s court.

 

It was also learnt that ‎he is yet to be brought before a court competent jurisdiction nearly four months after he was remanded at the juvenile home.

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‎According to sources, Edosomwan and other inmates had been brought out of their rooms to brush their teeth before he fled along with another inmate.

 

A search party from the facility was said to have engaged the suspects in a hot pursuit.

 

It was learnt that the two suspects had raised an alarm, as they ran, that they were being chased by cultists.

 

“They said that when they opened for them to brush their teeth, the boy and one other boy, who have been planning their escape for more than a week, they ran towards the fence. When they got to the fence, they scaled it and ran away.

 

“Unfortunately, the security man was not there. Some persons ran after them. As they were being chased, they started shouting that they were being chased by cultists in order to cause a distraction,” a source said.‎

 

According to the source, while his accomplice was caught on the way, Edosomwan was traced to the same building where he allegedly committed the crime.

 

The murder suspect ‎was said to have attempted to escape through the ceiling of one of the rooms but was overpowered by some men, who took him back to the remand home.

 

A cutlass was said to have been recovered ‎from him.

 

The source added, “One of them was caught while the murder suspect was caught between 10pm and 12am. Someone from the area called to say that he was inside the compound.

 

“They even said that he was a threat in the area, that he broke into a caravan in the compound and took some items.”

 

‎When contacted, the Commissioner for Ministry of Women Affairs, Mrs. Jemitola Anena, referred our correspondent to the Director of Child Development, whom she identified as Mrs. Enahimion.

 

But Enahimion said that she was not authorised to speak on the matter.

 

“Please direct your request to the PS (Permanent Secretary) of the ministry,” she said in a terse text message.

 

The Permanent Secretary could, however, not be reach, as he claimed that he could not hear our correspondent when he was called on the telephone.

 

He had yet to respond to a text message sent to his telephone number as at the time of filing the report.