Date: 2021-01-30

The police in Kano on Friday said they have arrested a woman over the death of her teenage house help under mysterious circumstances.

Khadija Musa, 19, an indigene of Kwara State, arrived in Kano three months ago and was engaged as a house help by the suspect in Salanta quarters of the Kano metropolis. The police are withholding the suspect's name.

According to the police, witnesses, including those who washed the victim's body, said it had several wounds and cuts that suggested she had been cruelly beaten.

However, the suspect reportedly told the police that Miss Musa died after being bitten by a cat. The police spokesperson in Kano, Haruna Kiyawa, told PREMIUM TIMES on Friday that the police interrogated the gateman of the house in which the woman lived with the deceased. The officer said the police had received a call last Saturday from a hospital that rejected the corpse of the deceased after suspecting a foul play.

He said the police took custody of the body and ordered for a full medical examination.

He said the police later released the corpse for burial after the medical examination.

Mr Kiyawa said residents of Salanta quarters, however, conducted the burial before the arrival of the family of the deceased from Kwara State.

He said preliminary investigation revealed that a third party had brought Miss Sule to work as a house help and that she worked for the suspect alongside another girl and a gateman until her death.

Mr Kiyawa said the police had obtained statements from both of them.

He said the suspect, a mother of three, was living alone as her husband is living abroad.

Parents not aware of daughter's location

The police also said when contacted, the parents of the deceased in Kwara State said she had left home in search of work "but they were not aware she was in Kano".

He said the police commissioner in the state, Habu Sani, has ordered a thorough investigation of the case and promised to ensure the culprit faces prosecution.