A middle-aged man said to be lecturing at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State has been reported dead after he was hit with a pestle by his houseboy.
The deceased, simply identified as Chima, was murdered following a brawl with the deceased over plate washing at his residence in Ifite, Awka, the State capital.
The suspect, in a viral video had confessed hitting the deceased, said to belonged to the Psychology Department of the institution with a pestle thrice before he gave up.
He said, “When my Oga came back, he told me to cook rice. And as I was cooking the rice, he asked me why I did not wash plates. I did not reply and he became angry on why I wasn’t responding to his question.
“Immedietly, he slapped me; but I told him that people don’t slap me because I usually have ear problem. He slapped me again, asking if I was still talking while he was talking.
“He quickly rushed for a cane and started flogging me all over. That was when I got provoked and engaged him in a fight. In the process, I picked up the pestle in the kitchen and hit him on the head three times.
“I stopped at that point after he had slumped in the pool of his blood.”
The video showed the deceased lying lifeless in the hospital bed, with his relatives and friends and some hospital officials interrogating the suspect.
The Daily Vendor gathered that while the deceased was being taken to the hospital together with the suspect, he (suspect) who earlier denied responsibility for the death, attempted to choke to death inside the vehicle.
“That act raised suspicion that he was actually responsible for the death. Meanwhile, the victim who still had little breath, managed to mention the suspect’s name before he finally gave up the ghost,” a family member narrated.
The suspect who eventually confessed to the crime after he was tortured by the doctor on duty at the hospital, had claimed it was the deceased’s girlfriend who visited him that night that attacked him.
Efforts to get the reactions of police spokesperson, Tochukwu Ikenga proved abortive, as he was yet to respond to messages sent to him by this reporter, as at the time of this publication.
