A landlord in Ikorodu, Lagos State escaped being killed by mob after lifeless bodies of three children of his tenant were found inside his car.
The landlord had been beaten black and blue by angry youths before he was rescued by the police.
The victims, Uche (3), Marvelous (5) and Lazarus (8), of same parents, were said to have suffocated to death after straying into a Toyota RAV 4 SUV belonging to the landlord in Imota area of Ikorodu, Lagos State.
The deceased children were said to be playing inside the compound when they strayed into the parked car.
A neighbour, who would not want to be mentioned, said the children were playing with their cousin, Blessing (11), around 11.00am on Tuesday May 23, inside the compound before they entered into the RAV4 car.
According to him, nobody could tell why Blessing, who was the most senior, did not enter the car and also failed to raise an alarm when she discovered that her cousins had been trapped inside the car.
He said Blessing failed to raise an alarm out of fear of being flogged for venturing into the area.
Meanwhile, police spokesman in Lagos State, Benjamin Hundeyin, in a statement, said that the Officer in Charge (O/C) Police Family Support Unit (FSU) got a distress call from anonymous callers of a suspected Sudden and Unnatural Death (SUD) by suffocation of under-aged children.
He said a patrol team and FSU personnel moved to the scene where they met a crowd that besieged the residence of one Moses in Ikorodu.
The statement read: “The father of the deceased children said he was from Izii community in Ebonyi State and a tenant at the aforementioned address. The children were playing with their cousin, one Blessing Hyacinth, a girl of about 11 years, a foster daughter to Mr Osondu, at about 11am inside the landlord’s RAV4 SUV parked in a fenced and gated compound.
“One of them inadvertently pressed the central lock button of the vehicle and it ended up locking the trio till they got suffocated. The three children were taken to the Ikorodu General Hospital where they were confirmed dead by medics and their corpses deposited at the hospital’s mortuary for autopsy in the presence of their father.
“The landlord was brought to the station for protective custody and the RAV4 SUV was taken to the station for safekeeping too.”