There was pandemonium in Ezigbo village, Igbo-Ukwu
community, Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State on Thursday,
April 7, 2016, when a 30-year-old man, Ejike Nwankwo Ohagba ran amok and
threw his mother into an abandoned well in his father’s compound. He
also used blocks to kill her in the well.
Sun newspaper reports that the suspect had in September last year allegedly
killed two of his siblings in the same well, set his family house ablaze
and disappeared only to reappear in the community last week to
continue his killing spree.
On the fateful day, the source said, the suspect’s mother, late Mrs
Christiana Nwankwo Ohagba, a widow, took off from where she was taking
refuge since her family house was burnt to do some farming with a
14-year old boy, Chiemerie at the family compound. Meanwhile, the source
said, the suspect was hiding somewhere within the compound, with his
mother completely unaware of the danger lurking around the premises.
As Sunday Sun learnt from the source, it was Chiemerie who
first saw Ejike and alerted the deceased that the suspect was in the
compound. Chiemerie escaped but the deceased could not as the suspect
swooped on her.
After wrestling with him to free herself in vain, she was thrown into
the well by the suspect who went ahead to gather blocks and started
throwing them into the well to ensure that she did not survive.
They said it was Chiemerie who reported the attack on them to other
members of the community after running for a distance from the scene of
the incident.
But before help could come, the widow was already dead in the well
and the suspect varnished again. Police and the local vigilante were
invited to help and bring out her body from the well.
Reacting to the incident, the traditional ruler of Igbo-Ukwu
community, Igwe Martin Eze, Idu of Igbo-Ukwu, said he was still in shock
over the incident and actually dumbfounded.
The monarch said the incident was reported to the police. He implored
the federal and state governments to set up rehabilitation centres in
many communities where people could be rehabilitated when they begin to
exhibit unusual behaviour.
He also said that jobs should be created to get the youths employed
to reduce the level of hardship which he noted was responsible for
increase in crime in the society.