As Nigerians grapple with the gory details surrounding the lynching of a young man for allegedly stealing garri, a legal practitioner, whose account went viral on Thursday claimed the victim and his gang tried to dispossess a woman of her belongings.



Kingsley Ughe, General Counsel for Joint Action Aids, in a Facebook post titled, ‘A Thief and A Frenzied Mob Baying for Blood,’ said the victim was a member of a gang of notorious thieves and not a seven-year-old boy, as claimed by media reports.



He explained that the young man met his dastardly end after his gang tried to dispossess a woman of her belongings, including an Infinix Note 2 phone, at Augustine Onwualu street, Orile Iganmu, Lagos last Saturday.



The woman, however, held unto her phone and screamed for help.



Read Ughe’s account below



The true account of the young man lynched and summarily burnt to death at Orile Iganmu last Saturday speaks of the uncertainty and brevity of human life in Nigeria. It was Saturday, the 11th day of November 2016. The venue of this macabre killing orgy was at Augustine Onwualu Street, Orile Iganmu, Lagos.



A woman, (name withheld) was walking along the ever busy road of Augustine Onwualu street, Orile Iganmu. She had an Infinix Hotnote 2 handset with which she was making telephone calls in high pitched voice, frantically gesticulating in the process. Close by, on the same street were a gang of 4 notorious thieves, well known in the area for their dare devilry and viciousness. They were there, waiting, prowling and surveying the entire scenery for a vulnerable victim to rob and dispossessed of their valuables as they often do in the past. And successfully too.



“The woman approached. Still talking on the phone and gesticulating with her free arm. She was immediately spotted by the very perceptive eyes of this criminal gang. A brief conference amongst them, she was adjudged a soft target. There was no need for further plans or careful surveillance. After all they had done this successfully in the past. More so, their sheer ferocity makes them a sort of feared mobster in the local vicinity. But it turned out to be a miscalculation. And costly one at that!

“They approached and circled the woman who was oblivious of her surrounding and the imminent attack on her person. The robbery attack was swift and very decisive. She was held from behind by two members of the gang. One of them deftly pruned her hand bag off her shoulder and the same time attempted to retrieved the telephone with which she was making calls from her other arm. The last of the gang stood guard, providing cover for the others.



“They had during their planning stage misjudged the desperation of a Nigerian woman about to be dispossessed. The victim reacted swiftly. She let the hand free and held on tenaciously to her phone. A struggle ensued. The victim plaintively cried out for help. A motley crowd gathered. The other members of the gang, appropriately appraising the situation fled the scene. The fourth member was not so lucky. He continued to engage in an internecine struggle with victim for the phone. In desperation, he brought out a dagger, and cold blooded stabbed the woman repeatedly in the chest, stomach and shoulder. There is a proverb, when a strong animal flirts too much with the trap, he makes his meat available for children to share with teeth.



“The gathered crowd became enraged and promptly apprehended the abandoned thief. He was beaten to stupor, Tied up and set ablaze while the maddening crowd continued to bay for his blood.

“Joint Action Aid was alerted on Monday when video clips of the dastardly murder went viral on social media. We reported the yet another resort to “jungle justice” to the Commissioner of Police, Lagos state. The video clips were carefully analysed and some arrest made. The six people arrested through our efforts denied criminal culpability and brought fast talking lawyers.



“More frustrating, the charred remains of the alleged thief had been removed. The area council and Orile Iganmu police claimed ignorance of the whereabouts of the corpse. Thus we have a dead zone situation. No dead body, no witnesses and then, most understandably, an unwilling complainant still battling for survival from the grievous multiple stabbing at the hospital. We returned back to the office, again defeated. Frustrated. And defeated.The rule of law is vanquished again. The rule of the jungle continues to win triumphantly.



Kingsley Ughe ,a legal practitioner and General Counsel of the Joint Action Aids


http://www.newshelm.com/2016/11/why-lagos-garri-thief-was-lynched-lawyer.html

cc lalasticlala

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Good thing the Animal was neutralised ..heard he and his gang

had killed many people over phones in that same area

This country is turning to war front

Hmm...
This story is turning into Nollywood movie o.

Normally, tlthey thief should be handed over to the police but in the situation whereby the police is incapable and cannot properly handle cases like this. The fear of being disappointed by the police made the people to do instant judge of him.

If you see where these thieves rob people and injure them, so also these kidnappers, when things like this happen, you will not pity them.

I just hope the innocent doesn't suffer this

Did he succeed in stealing d fone,no!
Even if he succeeded does it justify taking another man's life?Hell no!!
Its d same set of criminals that killed that young man that wud hail and some even die for the likes of Saraki,Patience jonathan,theodore orji,dasuki etc,despite these sets rendering & stealing beyond their generations unborn and making them useless!!
Thieves can be devilish and dastardly agreed,but i bliv once that person has been caught,nothing whatsoever justifies him/her being lynched.

doctokwus:
Did he succeed in stealing d fone,no!
Even if he succeeded does it justify taking another man's life?Hell no!!
Its d same set of criminals that killed that young man that wud hail and some even die for the likes of Saraki,Patience jonathan,theodore orji,dasuki etc,despite these sets rendering & stealing beyond their generations unborn and making them useless!!
Thieves can be devilish and dastardly agreed,but i bliv once that person has been caught,nothing whatsoever justifies him/her being lynched.

He should be set free abi

Dont even bring up police shyte, cous no current big thief living today had once or twice not been released by the police before...

onye uwa mmebi

doctokwus:
Did he succeed in stealing d fone,no!
Even if he succeeded does it justify taking another man's life?Hell no!!
Its d same set of criminals that killed that young man that wud hail and some even die for the likes of Saraki,Patience jonathan,theodore orji,dasuki etc,despite these sets rendering & stealing beyond their generations unborn and making them useless!!
Thieves can be devilish and dastardly agreed,but i bliv once that person has been caught,nothing whatsoever justifies him/her being lynched.

He should be set free abi

Dont even bring up police shyte, cous no current big thief living today has once or twice been released by the police before...

Those accomplices above me claiming jungle justice is not good...
What about the woman they almost stabbed to death??
or Stealing justice is better right??

I thought as much. D boy isn't even seven year old from the pix and it's clear that it wasn't a GARRI theft. Rip dude. Others will learn

gameboyo:
I thought as much. D boy isn't even seven year old from the pix and it's clear that it wasn't a GARRI theft. Rip dude. Others will learn

Trust bloggers with fake reports,some one in side d taxi i boarded tdy even said he stole origin bitters, rice and garri,I just kept quiet and smiled

doctokwus:
Did he succeed in stealing d fone,no!
Even if he succeeded does it justify taking another man's life?Hell no!!
Its d same set of criminals that killed that young man that wud hail and some even die for the likes of Saraki,Patience jonathan,theodore orji,dasuki etc,despite these sets rendering & stealing beyond their generations unborn and making them useless!!
Thieves can be devilish and dastardly agreed,but i bliv once that person has been caught,nothing whatsoever justifies him/her being lynched.

Eventually he was the scape goat in a zoo

doctokwus:
Did he succeed in stealing d fone,no!
Even if he succeeded does it justify taking another man's life?Hell no!!
Its d same set of criminals that killed that young man that wud hail and some even die for the likes of Saraki,Patience jonathan,theodore orji,dasuki etc,despite these sets rendering & stealing beyond their generations unborn and making them useless!!
Thieves can be devilish and dastardly agreed,but i bliv once that person has been caught,nothing whatsoever justifies him/her being lynched.

I don't support jungle justice, but help us Lynch saraki now.

We feel bad for them, surely, we have human sympathy, but when u see this guys rob, I swear if u get chance u go do far worse than wetin that mob do, the guy even went as far as stabbing someone, see confidence, it is well o. Rip sha

too many versions of the same story....d guy is gone#bottom line

Didn't want to read this garbage. They had him bound by hands and feet. At the point he was neutralized as a threat. Then they lit him on fire instead of calling police to throw him in jail. If he was really this dangerous animal and known Menace to society they might not give him bail.

If you set him on fire for stealing all those involved are animals and cowards. They would treat their thieving politicians like that. Even if they saw them with money in their hands.