How Nigerian Parents Starved Their 15-Year-Old Son to Death for Religious Reasons

The Word says, “My people perish for lack of knowledge.” A Nigerian couple in the US have been arrested after their 15-year-old son reportedly died for religious reasons.

According to a report by NewYork Times, prosecutors in Wisconsin, USA; charged Kehinde Omosebi, 49, and Titilayo Omosebi, 48, of Reedsburg on Tuesday with child neglect for allegedly allowing their teenage son to starve to death and his younger brother to become severely emaciated during a religious fast.

Sauk County prosecutors charged the couple with child neglect causing death and child neglect causing great bodily harm. Both charges are felonies and carry a combined maximum sentence of 37 years in prison, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.

The Judge, Wendy J.N. Klicko set bail at $5,000 for Kehinde during his initial court appearance on Tuesday. His attorney, listed in online court records as Leonie Dolch, didn’t immediately return a voicemail.

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Assistant District Attorney, Linda Hoffman said the deceased’s father, Kehinde told police he believes he has done nothing wrong, the State Journal reported.

Titilayo is due to make her initial appearance on Wednesday though Online court records didn’t list an attorney for her.

Kehinde Omosebi walked to the Reedsburg police station on Sunday to report the death of his 15-year-old son, according to police Chief Timothy Becker. When police arrived at the family’s home, they found the dead teen and an extremely emaciated 11-year-old boy; the mother was also found to be emaciated.

The police chief said the father told them he was a minister affiliated with Cornerstone Reformation Ministries and that the family had started a religious fast on July 19. Investigators do not believe the father is a minister, they believed he made up the name of the ministry, Becker said.

“There’s no IRS number, no corporation,” he said.

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No food was found in the house and police had to force their way into the home because doors were padlocked on the inside.

“The residence had no phone, no power, no food,” Becker told the State Journal. “There was a gym bag in the garage with some clothes in it. That was it, with the exception of a tambourine that was found.”

Hoffman, the assistant district attorney said Kehinde Omosebi told the police that he was planning to move his family to Atlanta. He had sold all the family’s belongings and hadn’t paid rent in several months, she said in court.

Dolch told the court that Kehinde Omosebi worked at a Reedsburg foundry but has been unemployed since February.

The younger boy and his mother were brought to the hospital but the mother, Titilayo refused treatment, citing religious reasons, and was taken to the Sauk County Jail while the 11-year-old was put in protective custody at Children’s Hospital in Madison.

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Becker said the parents are now eating while in jail at Baraboo.