A 4-year-old child, Hope Evans, who was declared missing by her parents in Port- Harcourt, River State, has been found by the police operatives in Abuja.
Spokeswoman of the FCT police command, SP Josephine Adeh, who disclosed this to our reporter on Saturday, said the child was declared missing by one Ms Lydia Jonah Gabriel, on October 31, 2024.
She said the incident happened when Ms Lydia raised an alarm that her child, who was returning from a community primary school in Azube, Port Harcourt, was stolen.
The FCT Police PRO said a suspect, Blessing Okoi, allegedly lured the child away from the school premises at approximately 1:28pm by offering him biscuits and eggs.
She said, “The woman, who was not known to the school management, managed to leave with Hope unnoticed until in the evening when the child’s family could not locate him.”
She added, “Upon realizing that her son was missing, Ms Lydia Jonah, alongside family members, visited the school to gather more information. They discovered that the woman who took Hope was known locally as Destiny’s mum. However, upon visiting the residence of Destiny mum, the family learned that the suspect had hurriedly vacated the premises on the same night.’’
Josephine said the family reported the matter at the Trans Amadi police station, adding that the matter was later transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for further investigation.
She explained that it was suspected that the suspect had escaped to Abuja and the victim’s mother younger sister came to report the matter at the FCT police command, where the Police Commissioner, CP Olatunji Disu, ordered immediate investigation.
She said after a detailed investigation, police operatives tracked the movements of the suspect, Blessing Okoi, to Maraba, an Abuja suburb, from where she was arrested on November 29.She said ‘’At approximately 8pm of that day, the 4- year-old Hope Evans was rescued. The suspect earlier claimed to be the child’s mother, even as her claims were inconsistent with information provided by the victim’s mother.’’
She said the command later contacted the child’s mother, who arrived Abuja on November 6 and the child was reunited with her.
Josephine said the suspect was still in police custody undergoing further questioning.