The police in Akwa Ibom state last week paraded a 32 years old man simply identified as Anuna Stephen for ritual killing
Stephen was arrested by officers and men of the Police Force drawn from the State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS)following the gruesome murder of his friend, a babber who was identified as Dan
According to witnesses, the prime suspect, Anuna Stephen, had called his friend on phone for urgent meeting in his house, where he drugged his Origin beer already prepared for him.
“When the late Dan arrived, he (the suspect) entertained him with the drugged beer and it was not long before the deceased dozed off, giving the killer the opportunity to tight him, before stabbing him to death”, he narrated.
“After stabbing him to death, he carried the remains into his kitchen and used hacksaw to chop up his hands, head and two legs. He packed the parts in a sack bag, pulled it out of the house to the major street of Itu Road”, he added.
Apparently tired of evacuating the corpse to safer place, he was said to have abandoned the deceased in body bag, removed the vital parts including the two hands that he dumped in a place along School Road and the head hid in abandoned dump site on Itu Road.
“When the Police was called after the incident, the Landlord had to call the suspect and demanded for the remnant of his rent. The suspect said he was about travelling, that he was with the balance to pay before travelling. The Landlord then asked him to meet him at Itam junction, within the premises of a Church where the Landlord had already told the SARS men to lay ambush”, he explained.
When the suspect arrived to pay the remaining part of the rent, it was gathered, came with three armed Mobile Policemen, oblivious of the fact that his sin was already known and reported to the Police, who were already armed to the teeth to crack the case.
“The three Mobile Policemen were eventually overpowered by the SARS men and the suspect arrested and taken to the Police Headquarters at Ikot Akpanabia”, he said.
What pained the angry residents of Itu Road the most, according to another witness, ‘is the fact that the suspect, apart from being a close friend of the deceased, was also sleeping with the late Dan’s sister”.
He disclosed that such close relationship led to the suspect opening a barbing salon for his late friend along Urua Ekpa Road.
At the time Journalists visited the scene of the incident yesterday, plain clothes Policemen were seen removing the personal effects of the suspect, while other belongings including pillows soaked in blood were burnt.
The Commissioner of Police (CP), Gabriel Achong, confirmed the incident, but denied the involvement of his men in the incident. “My men are not involved; as I am talking to you now, the man is with me here. We have done our very best since the incident happened yesterday. Did you know how we picked up the legs, head and the body?’, he queried.
At the time of filing this report, Achong, who is pulled out of the Force on Friday July 31, 2015 after 35 years of service was scheduled to brief the press on the matter.
