As part of the trial linked to the baby Mathis affair, the public prosecutor invoked article 374 of the Penal Code and requested the death penalty against Dagobert Nwafo, considering that the alleged facts amount to premeditated murder. The rights holders’ lawyers lined up behind this requisition, arguing that the seriousness of the acts committed justifies the maximum sanction.
The court, however, rejected the request for a guilty plea made by the accused, considering that the thesis of provocation put forward by the defense cannot mitigate the facts.
The case was adjourned until January 14, in accordance with the procedure applicable to a not guilty plea.
Recall that the tranquil residential quarter of Ngoa-Ekélé, colloquially known as “Château,” was shattered on May 10, 2025, when six-year-old Mathis was fatally stabbed in an act of vengeance that has galvanised national outrage and prompted urgent discourse on escalating violence against children in Cameroon.
THE VICTIM AND THE ACCUSED
The young victim, Mathis, son of Paulin Ouandji, was watching television and eating bread in the sanctuary of his family home when he became the target of a neighbour’s misdirected rage. The alleged perpetrator, Dagobert Nwafo‚ known locally as “Blake” or “Tonton Blek‚” is the father of renowned Cameroonian slam artist Lydol. Nwafo allegedly stabbed the child three times, with wounds to the arm and throat proving fatal.
THE PRECIPITATING INCIDENT
The harrowing sequence of events commenced with a seemingly banal altercation at a neighbourhood bar earlier that afternoon. During a dispute between Nwafo and Paulin Ouandji, the victim’s father, Nwafo was struck with a glass. Though bystanders initially separated the combatants, the confrontation had ignited a conflagration that would culminate in irreversible catastrophe.
After the bar altercation, Nwafo allegedly returned home, retrieved a knife, and entered his neighbour’s residence. Finding young Mathis innocently occupied before the television, Nwafo perpetrated an attack of unconscionable brutality upon a child entirely uninvolved in the preceding discord.
THE CHILD’S FINAL MOMENTS
Witnesses reported that Mathis cried out “Tonton, tu me fais mal” (“Uncle, you’re hurting me”)‚ his final words that would reverberate across the nation. The gravely wounded child attempted to flee, seeking his mother who operated a nearby boutique, before collapsing in the street. He was transported expeditiously to the military hospital, where physicians pronounced him deceased less than thirty minutes after the assault.
COMMUNITY RESPONSE AND VIGILANTE JUSTICE
The neighbourhood’s response was swift and visceral. Enraged residents apprehended Nwafo and administered a severe beating before surrendering him to law enforcement authorities in an unconscious state. The incident transpired a mere fifty metres from the 5th District Police Station, yet an atmosphere of fear and reticence has subsequently pervaded the community, with witnesses reportedly remaining in concealment.
THE MOTHER’S ANGUISH
In a heart-wrenching Facebook post published in the early morning hours following her son’s death, Mathis’ mother articulated her incomprehensible grief: “It is almost 4 in the morning, my baby, and I cannot close my eyes. The film of your assassination plays on loop in my head… You were there, quietly in front of the TV. And this man came in. He tore you from life, simply because he had just argued with your father in a neighbourhood bar. My little baby, I will no longer see you, I will no longer hear you.”
LYDOL’S RESPONSE
The accused’s daughter, celebrated slam artist Lydol, found herself thrust into the maelstrom of public condemnation. In a video statement disseminated across social media platforms, she articulated her profound sorrow: “I was not a witness. I am his daughter and today I think that is enough for my name to be associated with all this pain… I condemn all forms of violence regardless of the circumstances.” The artist subsequently cancelled scheduled performances in Yaoundé and Paris, requesting that justice be served.
Online discourse has been polarised, with some critics excoriating Lydol for allegedly shielding her father in a previous homicide case, while others have defended her, asserting: “On ne choisit pas ses parents. La responsabilité pénale est individuelle” (“One does not choose one’s parents. Criminal responsibility is individual”).
ANTECEDENT CRIMINALITY
Community sources have characterized Nwafo as an individual with notorious violent proclivities. According to witnesses, Nwafo possessed “criminal antecedents” and maintained “a reputation as a brigand, living primarily from armed assaults.” Reports indicate he had allegedly perpetrated a previous homicide mere weeks before Mathis’ death, inflicting fatal cranial trauma upon another neighbourhood resident during a violent altercation.
JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS
The case has now reached its culminating juridical phase. The Prosecution has invoked Article 374 of the Penal Code in requesting capital punishment for Nwafo, characterising the act as premeditated murder. Legal representatives for the victim’s family have endorsed this requisition, maintaining that only the supreme penalty can adequately address the heinousness of the crime.
A NATION IN MOURNING
The tragic demise of Mathis has transcended the boundaries of a mere fait divers, metamorphosing into a national cause célèbre. Marie Thérèse Abena Ondoa, Minister for the Promotion of Women and the Family, conducted an official visit to the family’s residence in Ngoa-Ekélé on May 22, 2025, underscoring the governmental attention the case has garnered.
The tragedy has catalysed broader conversations regarding the normalisation of violence in Cameroonian society and the vulnerability of children to such brutality. Child welfare advocate‚ Tchato Henriette, who had vocally championed justice for Mathis, herself succumbed to sudden illness days after the incident‚ a loss compounding the grief of those advocating for child protection.
This incident serves as a sobering reminder of how interpersonal conflicts, when allowed to metastasise unchecked, can precipitate consequences of catastrophic proportions, with the most vulnerable members of society bearing the unconscionable cost of adult animosity.
