A 20-year-old man, one Cephas Appaf, has
been arrested by the police in Edo State for allegedly hacking a
motorcyclist to death in the Ovia South-West Local Government Area of
the state.
It was gathered that Appaf, a rubber
tapper who hails from Benue State, had asked the victim, identified as
Aniete Okon, to give him a ride to Benin, the state capital on November
3, 2016.
It was gathered that the
suspect had
told his unsuspecting victim to make a stopover on the way, where he
picked up a cutlass and dealt him severe blows in the neck, before
fleeing on the motorcycle.
However, he was said to have run out of
luck when he put up the motorcycle for sale. One of his potential buyers
was said to have suspected his claim of ownership of the property.
He was later said to have been arrested
by some security operatives attached to an agro-allied firm and handed
over to the police in the area.
But Appaf, who spoke to PUNCH Metro
when he was paraded along with other suspected criminals by the
Commissioner of Police, Haliru Gwandu, on Tuesday, denied any intention
to kill the man and blamed his action on poverty.
He said, “He (victim) took me on his motorcycle,
and on our way from Benin, I saw a cutlass at a rubber plantation. Then
I told him to stop, take the cutlass and cut him in the neck.
“I did not plan to kill him; it was
because of poverty. I took the motorcycle to another community to sell.
But I could not sell it; it was identified as a stolen motorcycle.
“The residents of the community said the
motorcycle was stolen and that they would follow me to where I reside
to verify the ownership of the motorcycle.
“As we were going, some security men
stopped us and the residents explained to the security men that they
suspected the motorcycle I was riding did not belong to me. So, I was
taken to a police station. I regret what I have done.”
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