A SUSPECTED phone snatcher said to be an undergraduate of the University
of Calabar, was killed by a mob at about 9 p.m, Wednesday, for allegedly
snatching a phone and a lady’s handbag.
The undergraduate said to be operating with someone at large was alleged
to have boarded a taxi at Marian Road to Calabar South and when they
got to Goldie by Atu Street junction, they asked the taxi driver to stop
and while stepping down from the taxi, one of them grabbed the lady’s
handbag who sat next to him while the other snatched her phone.
“When the lady raised alarm, some people chased the boys and one managed
to escape while the other hid himself in the gutter in frontof my
house, “ Dr Emmanuel Effiong Ene, a lecturer who witnessed the incident
said.
According to the lecturer, when one of the thieves escaped, the mob came
after the one who hid himself and descended on him with stones and
cudgels.
”I heard someone scratch a machete on the ground and soon after the boy
began to scream as he was being dealt machete blows,” he said.
The machete cuts hacked off the suspect’s hands which left him dead and
was subsequently dragged from the gutter in front of 1 Gibson Street and
dumped at the junction between Goldie and Gibson with blood splashing
all the way.
“Some people bought tyres from the nearby motor mechanic workshop to set
him ablaze but only his head and eyes caught fire, ”he added.
Large crowd gathered early in the morning to behold the gory sight while
residents of the Gibson Street and the adjoining streets stayed
indoors or hurried off to work to avoid police arrest.
The Deputy Superintendent of Police who gave his name as Edem that led
the team of policemen to take the decapitated body away at about 9am
yesterday, said the body would be taken to the General Hospital Calabar
for autopsy.
“It is against the law to just bury anybody who is killed in mob action
without post mortem examination because in the event of any arrest and
subsequent legal action, the cause of death has to be presented as
evidence,” he said.