Police rescue man from angry mob after alleged attempt to throw child’s corpse in trash bin

Operatives of the Akwa Ibom State Police Command have rescued a father of three from being lynched by an angry mob at the Itam Timber Market in Uyo, the state capital.

The man, who has not been named, was intercepted around a rubbish dump near a motor park.

It was determined that the man was being watched by some concerned persons who suspected the contents of the box he was carrying on his head, with some torn clothes, on the way to the garbage bin across the wood market.

Some witnesses to the incident told journalists who later arrived on the scene that the man was accompanied by his two other male children, who were minors, before he was accosted by the crowd in the market area.

“Some angry market men caught the man and removed the suspected box from his head before discovering that inside was the lifeless body of his child, naked but neatly wrapped in torn clothes,” they said.

Meanwhile, a video has surfaced online showing the man engaging those who caught him in a fight as they forced him to take the body out of the box, which he obliged.

In the video, the fair-skinned child’s corpse was seen dangling in his left hand as he used his right hand to deliver blows to his accusers, who claimed he was a ritualist, before police intervened on the scene.

Reacting to the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer in Akwa Ibom, ASP Timfon John, said the police officers in the area rescued the man from the angry crowd.

She explained that when questioned, the man, who is from Anambra State, said he tried to take his son’s corpse in a box to his village for burial as an Igbo man does not allow male children outside their community buries.

She noted that the child’s corpse had been deposited in the mortuary and investigations into the matter had begun, adding that the truth would be determined at the end of the investigation, even as she stressed that the man killed the boy had not killed.

Her words: “Regarding the Itam incident, what happened is that a father of three boys was intercepted by the police in Itam with a dead boy and two living boys.

“Upon investigation, the man told police that all three boys are his, and that according to his tradition, deceased men are not buried outside their community. So he took the dead son to the village in Anambra State for burial.

“Police have since deposited the dead boy in the mortuary and investigations are still ongoing. Thank you.

“Please note that the said man did not kill the boy.”