An enraged mob set fire to a guy, 22, on Sunday evening in the Atimbo section of the Calabar Municipality Local Government Area (LGA) of Cross River for allegedly stealing an Android mobile phone.
According to an eyewitness who witnessed the incident, the child identified as Eyo has a history of petty thieving in the region and has been admonished multiple times to stop.
The witness, who requested anonymity, stated that the youngster committed the crime on Saturday and then vanished, only to reemerge on Sunday.
“I have known Eyo from secondary school, he has always been stealing, there was a time he stole half of the class school fees.
“Even as we grew into our 20s, Eyo became audacious in stealing and more notorious, he was always caught stealing, this is not the first time a mob action was carried out on him, he only met his end today.
“They started by beating him with cutlass before setting him ablaze. Funny enough, it’s just for stealing an android phone,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the State Police Command spokesman, SP Irene Ugbo, confirmed the event and condemned the act.
While emphasizing that it was illegal for anyone to take laws into their own hands, she stated that the proper course of action would have been to report the suspect to the nearest police station in the area.
“Killing him in the most gruesome manner through mob action is not only barbaric, it is illegal and unacceptable,” she stated. (NAN)
-All Rights Reserved-
Permission to use any material, including text, still photograph, audio and video from this site is granted subject to permission being formally sought and, if granted, appropriate credit must duly be given to The News Room as the source.
