Mother whose two children were abducted by fake apprentice has attempted suicide three times, kids still missing

Two kids, four-year-old Farouk and six-year-old Kafayat, who were abducted by their mother's apprentice on November 28, 2016, have still not been found, even though their alleged abductor who went by the alias Grace John, has been arrested.

The father of the missing kids, Fatai Azeez, told newsmen that the family doesn't understand what is going on because his wife's apprentice, Grace John has been arrested by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Lagos. He said Police told him that the suspect vehemently denied abducting the children and that they had no proof that she did.

 

The suspect Austin who presented herself as Grace John to the children's mother, Suliat, resumed work as an apprentice at Suliat's hairdressing workshop in the Okokomaiko area of Lagos on a Thursday and disappeared with the children that same day while their mother ran an errand.

 

Gloria John had allegedly sold off a  child identified as Oluwasemilore, who was the daughter of a bead artist with whom she was working for as an apprentice. The child had allegedly  been adopted as the last buyer’s daughter, when Gloria John was arrested in Badagry.

 

The father of the children said his wife has been depressed and suicidal since the abduction of their two children.

 

He said:

“Since that time, she could not bring herself to understand how she could lose two children in a day. The first attempt was when she was just throwing herself on the floor and smashed a stool on her own head. She picked a knife and was about to stab herself when people restrained her.

“Shortly afterwards, she wrote a suicide note with a knife by her side. People were, however, able to take the knife from her. When I could no longer bear it, I asked that she be sent to her village in Oyo State for proper care. When there was no one around, she drank Sniper. She has not regained her health since that time.”

 

The father said he called the Police to use every means possible to obtain a confession from their children's adbductor, Gloria John but they kept giving him the run around. He said:

 

“I called and begged him to use all means to get the girl to confess where she kept my children, but he said the girl denied abducting the kids.

 

“Later, when I called to know what was going on, he said he had already taken the matter to court. When I asked for the name of the court, he said he never told me he took her to court. He appears to have been compromised.”

 

Azzez alleges that a police officer in charge of the case at SARS told the family to forget about the children as Gloria John had been released.