The Enugu State Police Command has confirmed the arrest of a 45-year-old man identified as Michael Ugwuanyi, who smashed his parents to death with pestle at Mkporogwu, Iheakpu Awka, in Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area of the state. See previous report Here
Spokesperson of the command, Daniel Ndukwe, who confirmed the development said that the Commissioner of Police has directed that the case be transferred to State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation and prosecution.
It was gathered that the mother of the suspect, Florence Ugwuanyi, was pounding cassava in the kitchen on Saturday evening when the suspect snatched the pestle from her and smashed her head for unknown reasons.
According to Titus Ugwuoke, the Chief Adviser on Security Matters in the community and a member of the monarch’s cabinet, to stop his father Julius Ugwuanyi from alerting neighbours, the suspect seized the same pestle and also smashed the old man’s head.
After killing his parents, the suspect called his relations on the phone alleging that both deceased fell sick after eating cooked beans.
Ugwuoke said that the deceased couple’s first son, Pius Ugwuanyi, called him on the phone at about 4 am on Sunday morning and pleaded that he should go to his parents’ house and check on them.
When Ugwuoke and his wife, who is a practising nurse, got to the house, they met the suspect who informed them that his parents have gone to the hospital for treatment.
The couple returned home but the first son called again and told him that the suspect informed him to return home from Abuja immediately because their parents were in critical condition.
“I decided to arrest him with the Neighbourhood Watch personnel since he refused to disclose the name of the hospital where his parents went for treatment,” Ugwuoke explained.
“It was in the midst of this apprehension and confusion that Daniel, who is a younger brother to the late Julius, went to the kitchen axis and raised the alarm. On rushing there, we discovered the lifeless bodies of the suspect’s parents covered with clothes. I uncovered the clothes and what I saw was beyond my explanation, it was gory, to say the least. Their brain cells were splashed on the floor.” he added.
Speaking to the Vanguard, on Monday, the suspect’s eldest brother, Pius, said that Michael has been a torn in the flesh of the family.
According to him, the suspect refused to join him in Abuja where he is doing business. Each time the family tried to set him up for business he would squander the money and return to the village to make more demands.
“My brother has cost me money. In 2008, I went to Yola because I got a distress call that he locked himself in a room for seven days. The neighbours informed me that he stopped trading for that period of time. They told me that he would always answer them when they knocked on his door but would not open it despite their persuasions. They suspected he was mentally ill,” he narrated.
“When I got there, I called him and he queried what I came there to do. I persuaded him to open the door and when he did, he asked me why I was coming to look for him after abandoning him to suffer all these years. He demanded that I give him money for feeding, which I did,”
“A friend who went with me, after close observation, told me he needed psychiatrist attention. I mobilised policemen who went with me to arrest him. We took him to a psychiatrist home, that was where he manifested a bit of insanity. He told me how his pastor wanted to kill him,”
“He also told me that I took him there so that he would be killed, but after treatment, he became stable. We were there for seven days. I packed his belongings and returned home with him. We took him to an adoration ground at Umuida in Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu State, where he became well before returning to the village with us,” he explained.
