A 27-year-old man, Emmanuel Eghaghe, is on the run after he beat his mother to death for allegedly refusing to give him a sum of N20,000.
Emmanuel had reportedly visited the 61-year-old woman at her shop on Jinadu Street, Ajangbadi, Lagos State, on July 6, 2018.
Saturday PUNCH learnt that Emmanuel told her mother, Helen, that he needed the sum for pocket money.
He reportedly resorted to violence when the elderly woman said she could not afford the amount, slamming her head on the wall while he was struggling to get the money by force.
She was said to have sustained an injury in the head. While blood gushed out of her head, Emmanuel fled the scene.
A resident, who did not want his name in print, told our correspondent that the case was reported to the police at the Ajangbadi Police Division and the deceased’s brother, who is based in Benin, Edo State, was notified.
He said, “The sister of the suspect has a hotel in the community. He gave their mother a room in the hotel. She also opened a shop for the woman in front of the hotel. On that day, the suspect approached his mother and asked her to give him N20,000 pocket money.
“The woman said she did not have that kind of money. He pushed her to the wall and broke her head in the process. There were bloodstains everywhere and the woman eventually died in a hospital. He ran away immediately and has yet to be found. His sister was abroad and she was planning to relocate him there. A resident informed the woman’s brother and he travelled to Lagos from Benin. I was surprised why a child would do such a cruel thing to his mother.”
The deceased’s brother, Friday, told Saturday PUNCH that somebody had called him with Helen’s phone number on that day, informing him that Emmanuel was about to kill the sexagenarian, whom he described as a mother.
He said he called back the person several times to know what was wrong, but the phone rang out, adding that a girl who lived with the deceased later picked the call and told him that Emmanuel had killed her.
Friday said, “Around 11am that day, somebody called me with my mum’s (Helen’s) phone number and said somebody wanted to kill her. When I asked the person what the problem was, she cut the call. I called back, but she did not pick her calls.
“It was a little girl that was staying with her who later picked the call and told me that my mum had been killed. I left Benin immediately for Lagos. It was the woman who brought me up. Emmanuel was the fifth and the last child of the family. One of them lives in Benin here while others live abroad. I didn’t know why he killed her.”
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Chike Oti, confirmed the incident, noting that the command had launched a manhunt for the suspect.
He said, “The police got a report that the suspect hit his mother’s head against the wall in an attempt to get money from her forcefully. As a result, she became unconscious and was rushed to the hospital for treatment. She gave up the ghost at the hospital.
“The suspect is now at large. Detectives visited the scene and deposited the corpse at the Isolo General Hospital mortuary for autopsy. A manhunt for the suspect is being intensified.”
