By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

It was a dramatic Nollywood kind of scene at Nnewi automobile market in Anambra State when a yet-to-be-identified suspected motorcycle thief was apprehended and nearly beaten to death after he was caught allegedly attempting to steal a lady’s bike from where it was parked in a public space.

The incident, which reportedly happened in broad daylight, attracted a group of men that descended on the suspect.

A video from the scene of the incident circulating on social media showed the men hitting, kicking, and brutalizing the suspect with both fists, knees, heavy-soled footwears, among other objects and available weapons, while also tossing and hauling him around.

While the beatings were going on, a bystander was overheard in the background of the video cautioning the people that what they were doing was a jungle justice and advising them to hand over the suspect to the police for investigation and possible prosecution. Some other bystanders were also overheard in the background lamenting and pleading that the suspect be forgiven and freed to go, to avoid the matter degenerating into a murder case, as he had already collected enough beating.

This beating went on until the suspect eventually passed out on the ground before the mob left him for a while.

When they noticed that he was still breathing, they dragged him up again by his cloth and started pounding on him again, until he finally collapsed the second time and purportedly became unconscious. This time, they abandoned him there on the ground to his fate.

The incident has sparked reactions and counter-reactions on social media platforms, attracting concerns and opinions of social media users, some of whom hailed the brutalisation, describing it as well-deserving for the suspect, while some others criticized it as excessive and a jungle justice.

On the other hand, some social media users, in their reactions, stated that the suspect was not given enough beatings and torture as he deserved, while also suggesting that he should have been set on fire immediately and roasted alive with any available tyre or firewood, to serve as deterrent to others.

A netizen, Ugochukwu Onunkwo, who also reacted to the incident, wrote: “How to handle him first will be to strip him of all his clothes, beat him like a thief and remove his tooth, ikputu is involved, Mass beating left and right, but don’t k!ll him.”

On her part, Maudlin Obi wrote: “All of you that k!lled him, your picture is on the screen and those that sell things there know all of you.”

Lending her voice, Ebere Ojukwu, expressed shock over the incident, revealing that the suspect had been going around like a beggar.

Her words: “This guy that goes about like a beggar.