Gardaí hold Nigerian over sacrificial murder of boy
Sam Onogigovie, who lived in Tallaght with his partner and a number of children, will appear in the High Court this afternoon for extradition proceedings.
Yesterday, Scotland Yard police and Irish detectives spent four hours searching the man’s Dublin home for clues to the ritualistic murder of the boy in Britain two years ago which led to appeals from Nelson Mandela.
The unidentified boy is believed to have come from Nigeria and was aged between four and seven.
Onogigovie was convicted and sentenced to seven years in his absence in Germany in March 2001 for forgery, claiming residence and human trafficking-linked crimes.
Onogigovie is believed to be the estranged husband of a woman who was arrested in connection with the case in Glasgow in July last year. The woman, who was in her thirties, was later sent back to her home country of Nigeria.
He is believed to have been in Dublin for at least several months .
Scotland Yard detectives believe that more than one person may have been involved in the ceremonial killing of the boy, called Adam by police.
“We do know the murder would have been highly difficult for one person to commit,” a Scotland Yard spokesman said.
The boy’s mutilated body, which is believed to have been subject to a ritual black magic sacrifice, was found in the Thames near Tower Bridge on September 21, 2001.
His throat was slashed and his head and limbs cut off. Adam was wearing a pair of orange girl’s shorts which could only be bought at Woolworths in Germany.
Detectives have used ground-breaking forensic techniques to establish that Adam was from south-west Nigeria between Benin City and Ibadan.
The inquiry has seen detectives hunting for Adam’s true identity and his killers in several countries.
