One Michael Sunday has allegedly stabbed a 45-year-old bricklayer, Avonse Abraham, to death in the Alli Isiba area of Sango-Ota, Ogun State, over a N20,000 debt.
It was gathered that Abraham was returning from work on Saturday when he was accosted around the Faith Chapel junction area of Alli Isiba Street by Sunday, who allegedly stabbed him with a broken bottle.
It was learnt that the father of three owed the suspect’s mother the sum of N50,000 out of which he had paid N30,000.
However, his failure to pay the balance infuriated Sunday, who allegedly stabbed him with a broken bottle.
An eyewitness, who identified himself simply as Wale, said that the suspect had beaten the deceased with a plank earlier before Saturday’s incident.
He said, “The deceased owed the mother of his killer N50,000 and had paid N30,000 out of it when Sunday hit him with a plank for refusing to settle the balance. Sunday was sitting on a fence with a friend called Asa when he sighted the victim on Saturday night and accosted him while holding a bottle.
“He insisted that the deceased must pay the balance that night, but the man said he had no such money and that he would pay up on Tuesday, but Sunday broke the bottle and stabbed the man in the hand; the victim attempted to run away and Sunday stabbed him again in the upper part of his body.
“He also scared people, who attempted to rescue the man, telling them that he wanted to see who was ready to die for Abraham.”
Another resident of the area, who identified himself simply as Kehinde, said the deceased was taken to four hospitals but was rejected, and when he was eventually taken to the General Hospital at Onipanu, he was pronounced dead.
He stated, “The man owed Sunday’s mother N50,000 for a building foundation and he paid N30,000 last week after Sunday threatened to deal with him, but on Saturday, the suspect attacked the man when he was coming back from work and stabbed him.
“We took the man to four hospitals and they rejected him and we finally took him to the General Hospital in Onipanu, where the doctors pronounced him dead. Sunday is a violent person; just two weeks ago, he threatened to attack one of the landlords in the area called Elite over an argument between them.”
It was learnt that the suspect and his mother were arrested and detained at the Sango Divisional Police Station.
When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, did not take his calls and had not replied a text message sent to his mobile telephone as of the time of filing this report