How girl, 14, was found buried in garbage

The corpse, identified to be that of one Maryam Usain; a secondary school student and resident of Yan Balangu in Kwanar Jaba, was already in the early stage of decomposition when it was found, police public relations officer, ASP Musa Magaji Majia, said.   Maryam had gone missing from her parents’ Kwanar Jaba home a […]

The corpse, identified to be that of one Maryam Usain; a secondary school student and resident of Yan Balangu in Kwanar Jaba, was already in the early stage of decomposition when it was found, police public relations officer, ASP Musa Magaji Majia, said.

 

Maryam had gone missing from her parents’ Kwanar Jaba home a day before her corpse was discovered by a young refuse scavenger on Friday, Weekly Trust gathered.

The scavenger was said to have quickly intimated people in the area about the corpse, following which the ward head and police were subsequently notified.

At the deceased home, her mother, Hajiya Altine Usaini, explained that her daughter was last seen alive on Thursday evening, having finished her house chores for the day.

Whenever Maryam was done with housework, she will go out to play with her mates, said the mother, who was apparently yet to recover from the shock.

“When we later found out that she was not hanging out with her friends as we had earlier thought, my mind started thumping. We began searching the entire neighbourhood, visited her friends’ homes and contacted some of our relations to find out if she was with them,” she narrated. “But the long and extensive search did not yield positive result in the end,” she said.

She noted that a day after her daughter went missing, the news of the discovery of her corpse reached them. “On Friday, Maryam’s elder brother returned from the mosque and began shouting my name loudly. When I approached him to find out what was wrong, he failed to speak and instead, fell to the ground and continued screaming his sister’s name,” she narrated.

Hajiya Altine added that “just as I was enquiring what was the problem, his friend came into the house and broke the news to me. So, we rushed immediately to the spot where the corpse was said to be found, only to learn that the police had taken it to the hospital. The remains was however handed to us afterwards.”

She however, said the family was not informed about the cause of their daughter’s death, only how the body was discovered.

As soon as the news of the body spread around Brigade and Tudun Wada, residents trooped to the Jagule dumpsite to see for themselves. One of the early callers to the scene, Babannan, stated that a large crowd of spectators converged on Jagule to catch a glimpse of the dead girl.

Speaking on the incident, ASP Majia disclosed that the police have already launched an investigation into the matter, even though he said there were no signs on the corpse to suggest the girl was murdered.

The Police Public Relations Office PPRO told Weekly Trust that no one has been arrested in connection to the incident, explaining that when the police got information about the corpse, officers were quickly dispatched to retrieve it and deposit it in the mortuary.

He however noted that due to the ongoing strike by medical doctors in the state, the police traced the deceased’s family and handed over the remains to them for burial.