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By Young E. Freeborn, Warri
An alleged thief (name withheld), suspected of breaking into people’s houses, stealing properties and raping married women in Unenurhie community, Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State, was recently apprehended by the community vigilante group and handed over to the Nigeria Police Force, Ughelli ‘A’ Division.
Speaking to our correspondent at the community town hall, chairman of the community security group, Mr. Friday Diamond aka ‘Ogbo,’ said, “We have tolerated enough of atrocities and criminal activities of this young man. He has been breaking into people’s houses and stealing their properties. Not only that, he also rapes married women through herbal and ritual means.
“The community leaders have tried to caution him as a son of the soil to change for the better. Yet, he hasn’t changed for good. He has been terrorising us without stopping. Today, around 3am, I received a distress call that a thief has broken into one widow’s house and stole all her money and other properties. As the poor woman was shouting, he ran away leaving his two mobile phones on the ground.”
The vigilante chairman further said, “We were able to trace him to his house through the two mobile phones. It was there we accosted him. He then began to confess about those he broke their houses and stole their properties, including this very poor widow you are seeing here. We decided to handle him to the police because we have tolerated enough of his excesses as an indigene of this community.
“He’s not ready to change from this bad behaviour. He uses herbal and ritual means to perpetuate evils on the land and on the people. As a community based security group, we don’t take the laws into our hands. This is why we didn’t do anything to him, but decided to take him to the police station for thorough investigation and interrogations by the police.”
The widow, victim of the breaking and entry by the suspected thief, who spoke on conditions of anonymity said, the suspected thief had been terrorizing her for a very long time, causing pains and hardship for her. She also thanked the vigilante group for taking proactive steps leading to the arrest of the suspected thief.
When asked if she was the only one in the community that suffered the criminal acts of the suspected thief, she said, “No, I’m not the only one. He has stolen from so many people in the community. This is why you can see the crowd as large as this. He has been terrorizing the entire community. He has been giving people sleepless nights through his atrocities and criminal activities. It’s not something of today. Let him go and face the law,” she said.
However, efforts to speak with the state police public relations officer, Bright Edafe, on the matter proved abortive as at the time of filing this report.