By OBINNA NWAOKU, Port Harcourt

Operatives of the Onelga Security, Peace Advisory Committee, (OSPAC), a local vigilante group, yesterday, arrested and handed over a 36-year-old physically challenged man identified as Chinedu Okoro to the Police for allegedly beheading and dismembering the body of a yet-to-be-identified lady in a creek in Omoku, Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni council of Rivers State.

Sources said Okoro, who is deaf and dumb, allegedly killed his victim out of anger, claiming that the lady borrowed money from him and refused to pay.

The husband of the deceased, Chief Joshua Nze said: “We went to the farm to do morning work and return by 10:00 am. And I asked my wife to go home so that I can arrange everything that we’ll work on the next day.

“The said boy came and greeted me and he moved in the direction my wife had taken. Not too long, I got tired and decided to go home. On the way home, reaching a place called Odoni, I saw what my wife was carrying, a ten-litre can and a polythene bag by the road. I said maybe she went to ease herself in a nearby bush, but just as I moved in front, I saw him slaughtering my wife and I rushed him. I asked him what he was doing. He also attempted to kill me so that I would not expose him. If not God, I would have followed my wife. Fortunately, I escaped and returned to Omoku to tell my people what happened.”

And after that, OSPAC caught him and he led them to a pond where he dumped my wife’s head and her two hands. My wife is from uguta in Imo state and she is forty years old. I want justice on this matter.”

The OSPAC Secretary, Emeka Ababri, who also narrated the incident to The Guardian stated that Okoro had murdered his victim in cold-blooded, and cut off her head and hands as he hid the body in a creek far away from human dwelling.

Ababri said: “ A few days ago we got a piece of information about a woman who was beheaded across the creek. And when we swing into action and we succeeded in tracing the murdered to a boy who we suspected committed the crime.

“He is a deaf and dumb young man and about 36-years-old. When we caught him, we brought him to the community and we kept him as we continued to investigate the issue. A deaf and dumb person does not know how to talk so when we started using sign language and he revealed that when he killed the woman, who went to the farm, he beheaded the woman and cut off the hands and hid them. So for that reason, we could not hand over the boy to the police. So we say let us continue the investigation and based on that, we had to take him back to the forest where he showed us the head and the hands.

“He preserved them inside a polythene bag which we brought them and we continued investigation. We wanted to know if it was the first time he has committed such a crime. In our investigation, he opened up that this is not the first time he has killed someone across the creek. Finally, we were able to finish our investigation this afternoon and we have handed him over to the police for further investigation.

“The suspect is from ogbokata community in omoku. According to his people, he is 36 years. And His people are fully aware of the development.”

Meanwhile, the acting Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Grace Iringe-Koko, who confirmed the incident, said the police are investigating the matter. (The Guardian)

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