Mob kills undergraduate over alleged phone theft

CALABAR — A SUS-PECTED 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.