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Tragedy has hit Nkerefi community in Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State following the killing of four women farmers by one of the labourers hired to work in the farm.
The incident, according to BBC News Igbo, happened on Tuesday, June 20, while the women and others were working in their farms.
It was gathered that the killer labourer was among the three young men hired from Ezza in Ebonyi State to work in a rice farm by a woman in the village.
Our correspondent learned that while the woman and dozens of others were working in their various farms, the three young men were busy working at the portion they were hired for.
According to a villager, David Ani, trouble started after the woman who hired the labourers gave them food around 12 noon to eat and rest before they continued their work.
“It was after the three men had finished eating that the killer labourer excused himself to go to toilet. But, this man remained in the bush for over 30 minutes, thereby raising suspicion among his colleagues that he might have gone to take hard drugs (loosely known as mkpurummiri)”, Ani narrated.
He added that true to their suspicion, the young man emerged from the forest and began to charge like a bull and descended on the women with his machetes.
“He instantly killed four women and severely wounded two others.
“Even the efforts by the two other labourers to stop him yielded little results as he was menacingly attacking the women.
“After killing the women, he ran away from the forest.
“I’m we heard about the tragedy, we made announcement through the town crier for everyone to look for the assailants. But he was nowhere to be found up till this moment”, Ani disclosed.
He noted that it must have been the hard drugs that the young man consumed while in the forest that might have damaged his brain to the extent of causing him to kill anyone in sight.
He disclosed that the families of the deceased jad already taken away their corpses and deposited same to the morgue, while the wounded were taken to the hospital where they were receiving treatment.
The traditional ruler of the community, Igwe Luke Ogbu expressed shock at the attack, saying the people were astonished as to the reason for the killing because everyone in the area knew the assailant very well.
“I can tell you that this young man who committed this atrocity is well known here. Though, he is a stranger but everyone knows him. Nobody has ever had any altercation of any kind with him in the community before this incident.
“So, henceforth, we will come all out against crystal meth (mkpurummiri) and begin to know the kind of people coming into this community. This tragedy will make us to have another look at things happening here and strangers coming here too”, the monarch said.
The spokesman of the state police command, Daniel Ndukwe (DSP), disclosed that the commander was already investigating the matter.
