Chris Elvis allegedly claimed his son Godrich was an “Ogbanje” (evil spirit) and a “child of evil” and blamed him for his bad luck in recent days.
The report said Elvis, a security guard, beat his son, padlocked his mouth, burned his body with a hot iron and then locked him in a plastic drum.
The child’s mother arrived home after returning from the market only to to find her son’s terrible death, the report said.
She called the police who was about to arrest her husband when he tried to act ill mentally.
Police, however, said his condition was normal and held him in custody after being charged with murder.
The report quoted the charge sheet as saying: “That you, Chris Elvis, on February 10, 2014, about 5pm at 7, Adetola Adelaja street, Meiran Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did unlawfully kill one Godrich Elvis, aged four years by using hot pressing iron to burn him all over his body and putting him inside a plastic drum and locked the drum with padlock and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011.”