Sad: 3-year-old girl burns to death after mother locked her in house (PICTURED)

A young child in Nasarawa was caught in a fire and burned to death after being locked in their home by her mother.3-year-old Mercy died after she and her brother, Goodness lit a candle to wait for their mother who had gone to the market.The children’s mother, who wasn’t named, was said to have locked the children in the house to keep them from wandering about.Leadership reports:Mercy, who neighbours said was a beautiful and lively girl, was locked up in their one bedroom flat by their mother who went to the market for shopping.Assuming it was evening, the little girl and her brother, Goodness, decided to light a candle because the room was getting dark. A neighbour, Mummy Patience said, “I think they were afraid of the dark and decided to light the candle and slept off.It was the smoke that woke them up and because their hands could not reach the door knob, fire gutted the house and Mercy was roasted while her brother, Goodness, sustained injuries. People tried to break the door, but before help could reach them, it was too late. Nothing was saved from the house.On inspecting the rooms, LEADERSHIP Sunday reporter noticed that everything in the house got burnt while the roof caved in.Although, the parents were not available to talk to LEADERSHIP Sunday, a policeman in the vicinity said, “It is very unfortunate that a woman will lock small children inside the house in this age.We came and picked the burnt girl’s corpse which had turned into charcoal and buried her. We couldn’t keep her in the station for long. The mother is now in their pastor’s house; I don’t think the man will forgive the woman. Neighbours were saying that, she wasn’t friendly with anybody and that was why she couldn’t keep the children with neighbours”.