Nigerian parents, Titilayo and Kehinde Omosebi, have been arrested by the Reedsburg Police in Wisconsin, US, after their son, Ayanfe, starved to death during a religious fast.
According to the Facebook page of Reedsburg Police, the father of the deceased, Kehinde walked into the police station to report that his son had died on Sunday.
Police revealed that they went to the home of the Omosebis and had to force their way in, as the doors were padlocked from the inside.
“They found Ayanfe O. Omosebi (15) extremely emaciated and deceased. Officers also located an 11–year-old, also extremely emaciated, but alive and 48-year-old Titilayo A. Omosebi also emaciated but responsive.
The father, Kehinde S. Omosebi (49), who described himself as a religious minister affiliated with Cornerstone Reformation Ministries, and his family had started a fast on July 19, 2018 and were fasting for 40 days.”
Officers located no food in the apartment.
Kehinde stated that Ayanfe had died on Friday.
Titilayo and the 11-year-old were taken to Reedsburg Area Medical Center for treatment.
Titilayo refused treatment citing religious restrictions. The 11-year old was taken into protective custody and medically treated and eventually transported to Children’s Hospital in Madison, WI.
Kehinde and Titilayo, have been taken into custody and transported to the Sauk County Jail where they were charged with neglecting a child causing great bodily harm and neglecting a child causing death
An autopsy is scheduled for Monday morning and the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory will be assisting Reedsburg Detectives.
Meanwhile, a pastor from the Cornerstone Ministry Baptist Church in Reedsburg, Sonny Hyde, denied Kehinde’s claim that he was a minister with the so-called “Cornerstone Reformation Ministries.”
According to Wisconsin State-Journal, Hyde explained that he had never heard of such a church in the area and that the Omosebi family did not have a connection to his place of worship.
