Posted by By Abdulsalam Muhammad on
What could aptly be described as a societal negligence must have been responsible for the gruesome murder of a four-year-old boy, Muhktari Rabo, by his elder Brother, Mohammed Lawal in Bamaina village, Jigawa, recently.
DUTSE - What could aptly be described as a societal negligence must have been responsible for the gruesome murder of a four-year-old boy, Muhktari Rabo, by his elder Brother, Mohammed Lawal in Bamaina village, Jigawa, recently.
Though little Mukhtari Rabo seemed to have had a premonition of his demise, he could not fathom how, when and where it would come, and so reluctantly, he had accompanied his half brother, Mohammed Lawal, 27, to farm shortly after dawn prayers on the fateful day. That day, of course, was the last day the parents would be setting their eyes on Rabo, as the village woke up the next day to the shocking news that Mohammed Lawan had been sighted burying Rabo's apparel in the bush.
Eye-witness account told Vanguard that the intervention by the villagers was rather too late, as they were confronted with a horrible site of Rabo's mangled body, which brain was being feasted upon by Lawan.
According to the account, the suspect was promptly arrested, chained, brought back to the village and handed over to the District Head, Alhaji Yakubu Mai'ungwa, who in turn invited the police.
Mohammed Lawal, according to Police sources upon interrogations, confessed that he simply extended an invitation to Mukhtar Rabo to accompany him to the farm, after Sanusi Rabo, direct elder brother to the deceased, turned down the invitation.
Out of sight and out of sound, Mohammed Lawal pounced on the helpless boy, hit Rabo's head with iron bar, until he passed out and proceeded to prepare him for a feast.
Sources close to Homicide Section of the Jigawa Police Command revealed that Mohammed Lawal was a victim of Yelwa-Shedam fratricidal crisis in Plateau, adding that he has history of mental imbalance. The source further confirmed that the Rabo family told the Police that the suspect was a psychiatric patient of a local mullah in the vicinity where he had been receiving treatment.
The police report further confirmed that the suspect has neither record of culpable homicide nor does he have any traces or link with ritual killers.
Police had last week arraigned Mohammed Lawal for allegedly beheading his younger brother before a magistrate court contrary to section 221 of the penal code.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Sunday Digha, told Vanguard that the suspect was arrested on July 4 shortly after he committed the heinous act at Bamaina village in Birnin-Kudu Local Government area of the state.
Mr. Sunday Digha disclosed that Mohammed Lawal used a knife to cut off Rabo's head, pointing out that the overall intention of the suspect was yet to be established.
The Police Public Relations Officer stated that Mukhtar Rabo's corpse was released to the parents for burial after an autopsy was carried out at the Federal Medical Centre, Birnin-Kudu.
Mohammed Lawal's brief appearance before a magistrate last week was marred with a melodrama as the court which was presided over by Ado Dahiru adjourned the case and ordered the suspect to be remanded in prison custody.
Lawal, cooling his feet in solitary confinement in Garu Prison in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, is currently awaiting the police authorities in Dutse that have signified their intention to take him to psychiatric hospital to ascertain his mental fitness.
The parents of the deceased, Malam Rabo and Hajia Inna, have since accepted the wicked fate that befell their family as simply an act of God. They do not want to talk about it.
"We believe that it is his destiny to die that way. We only pray to Allah to accept the soul of the innocent boy", one of his brothers who gave his name simply as Nadabo told Vanguard.
Observers say Mukhtar Rabo, the innocent young lad, may have paid a supreme price for societal negligence, adding that the lesson remains that it is a high risk to co-exist with a man who has an establised history of mental imbalance.