A 36-year-old man in Nigeria has been arrested for killing his 7-year-old son as part of an alleged occult sacrifice. The father allegedly performed a "money ritual" because he thought it would make him rich.

The accused, identified as Chidi Onyishi, reportedly killed his son on Oct. 20 after a blind pastor in the area told him that the practice will make him wealthy. The man filed a police complaint two days later saying that his son was missing. However, an investigation into the disappearance of the boy revealed that the father was linked to the murder.

Onyishi killed the boy and buried him in a shallow grave at the bank of a stream in Abakpa-Nike, Enugu, police said in a statement Thursday, the Guardian reported.

Officers later exhumed the boy's decomposing body from the shallow grave in Abakpa-Nike. During interrogation, the father admitted to dumping the body in the grave after killing the child. Okeke Eneokwor, the pastor who persuaded him to commit the crime, was also arrested.

Senior police officer Abubakar Lawal ordered the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Enugu to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident that would lead to the prosecution of those responsible for the act, said Daniel Ndukwe, the state police public relations officer.

Local residents should "remain vigilant, law-abiding and promptly report criminals and their activities to the nearest police station or by calling the command's emergency hotlines," Ndukwe added, according to Punch Nigeria.

In October, the dismembered body parts of a newborn baby were found dumped in a town in Nigeria in October. Local residents suspected that the baby's death was linked to occult practice. Police initially discovered only the leg of the baby, but the other remains of the child were found later.

crime scene
Representative image Wikimedia Commons
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