Lawrence Nwimo, Awka
A mentally deranged man was yesterday butchered to death by hoodlums suspected to be cultists terrorising Awka, the capital of Anambra State.
Reports have it that the victim was gruesomely murdered after the cultists apprehended him at his usual place at Dike Park along the popular Zik’s Avenue, Awka.
It was learned that the cultists made several efforts to eliminate the mentally ill man but all to no avail as bullets, and other weapons failed to penetrate him.
“The cultists expended many bullets on him, but the bullets couldn’t penetrate him.
“They resorted to stabbing him, but all attempts failed. They decided to use cutlasses on him, and even stoning him, until he gave up, and the men left immediately,” a source narrated.
It was gathered that the cultists went after him because of his involvement in cultism before his mental illness started.
It was however not clear why he was targeted, especially as he had become deranged.
“Some people suspect that the man was not mad, but was just pretending, but it is obvious that he was mad because he even eats his own excreta.
“They say he used to be a cultist before he ran mad. No one knows why he ran mad, but you know these cultists, once you are committed, you are committed, and they must come for you.”
The source revealed that the deceased man is an indigene of Enugu State, who is resident in Awka, and was known to have association with a certain cult group.
“He was a bad guy, and he did many charms to protect himself. It is obvious that the charms he did when he was sane, was what was protecting him during the period of his insanity. That was why bullets and stabbing could not penetrate him.
“He did those things while he was sane, and since he ran mad, the charms were still working.
“You know that most of these charms mostly abhor sex, but because he is mad and has not been meeting women, even though he was mad, the charms remained potent.”
Spokesperson of the state police command, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga while confirming the incident, said the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, of Central Police Station in Awka had deployed men promptly to the scene.
“The DPO immediately swung into action, retrieved the corpse, and deposited it in a morgue.”
