A
28-year-old man, John Okoye of Umuchibu village in Awba-Ofemili, Awka North
local government area of Anambra State has reportedly killed his elder brother,
Osita.
Okoye, it
was gathered, killed his brother aged 34 in a fight after he caught him
assaulting their mother, Mrs. Joy Okoye.
Owojela’s
Blog gathered that Osita, a farmer and first son of the family returned home
late on Thursday and complained to his mother that one of his cousin was trying
to take their land, which he said he had already reported to security agents.
But his mum,
in reply, scolded him for taking a family matter to the police when it could
have been settled amicably within the family.
This was
said to have irked Osita, who started first by accusing his mother of siding
his cousin to take his land, and proceeded to rain verbal abuses on her,
prompting her to leave the room.
She told
journalists that; “I tried to let him see reasons why the issue would have been
resolved within the larger family, instead involving security men for his
cousin brother. That was how he erupted and branded me unprintable names. He
even asked me to leave his presence.
“He raised
his voice but I tried to calm him down because it was late already around 10
pm. I went to lock the door just not to let out our discussion to neighbours
but he went after me and flung the door wide open. I also explained why he should
not fight with his cousin over the land. The explanation did not go down well
with him.
“Before I
could sit down, he slapped me and tore my dress. I ran to the backyard to get a
cover for myself. It was in the process that my second child(John) came to my
rescue. John tried to pacify him to no avail and questioned the rationale
behind beating me. He (John) told him it was late already and that he should
stop disturbing other neighbours. But instead of listening to him, he (the
deceased) ran into the house and collected knife to fight his brother.
“I tried to
hold him back not to fight his brother with the knife, he collected the torch
which I was holding and struck it against the wall and pounced on his brother,
hitting him with the object twice in quick succession. John defended himself by
forcefully snatching the knife from him, which led to a fatal injury that
eventually claimed his life after he had bled profusely with no vehicle
available to rush him to hospital.”
The
distressed mother, who condemned the deceased’s hot temper and stubbornness,
said that if he had not resorted to retaliatory actions the unfortunate
incident would not have happened, noting that it was difficult to separate him
whenever he fought.
The widow
appealed to the Anambra state government to intervene in the matter by asking
the police to release his son, John, and allow them to settle the case amicably
within the family.
When
contacted, the police public relations officer, Anambra state command, SP
Haruna Muhammed, said that the police could not compound the case of mother,
pointing out that the suspect would be arraigned before the court after
investigation is concluded.
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