Mob kills undergraduate over alleged phone theft

CALABAR — 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 front
of 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 g 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.