Christmas is usually a time of merriment but for Haruna Adeoye, 20, it was his last merriment as he was flogged to death by his guardian over a plate of Christmas rice.

“He has confessed to the crime, he is with us at SCID Eleweran and will soon appear in court,” the Ogun State Police Command said yesterday about Kayode Olubunmi, 37.

A statement issued in Abeokuta, the state capital, by the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, said the murder took place at 10:30 p.m. on December 25 at Ajegunle, Ita-Oluwo, Ogijo in Sagamu Local Government Area.

The statement said that Olubunmi became incensed and took the law into his hands when he discovered that Adeoye, his cousin and an orphan, had eaten the Christmas rice given to them by a friend.

According to the police, “When the suspect, who went on a visit to his friends’ place, came back drunk, he flogged the deceased to death with a stick for eating the rice he instructed him to keep for their dinner.

“Haruna was an orphan who had been staying with the suspect for years and Olubunmi could not state why he killed him.”

•Photo shows Ogun State Police Commissioner, Ikemefuna Okoye.