A man identified as Richman a. k. a Runtown has met with an untimely death after members of the Obele Community in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State allegedly caught him raping a woman in broad daylight.
Richman had reportedly first robbed another woman on the same day before targeting the second woman whom he robbed and was raping when members of the community attracted by her cries came for her rescue.
They reportedly descended on the suspect beating him mercilessly before he was reportedly rescued by members of the community’s vigilante, who in turn handed him over to his father.
Sources who are neighbours to the suspect told the Nigerian Tribune that the father did not take the suspect to the hospital, but home where he died two hours later.
Following the death, the father reportedly went to the A Division and lodged a complaint that his son was unjustly killed by the vigilante set-up by the leadership of the community.
Some police operatives attached to the ‘A’ Divisional Police headquarters, allegedly subsequently stormed the palace of the paramount ruler of Obele community, Chief M.A Clarkson, shooting sporadically after they could not track down the vigilante members for arrest.
The police action aggrieved the community residents who, on Monday, came out in large numbers and marched to the Government House over what they called harassment of innocent youths and vigilante officers by police operatives following the death Richman who the community knew to be a notorious criminal and serial rapist.
The protest was led by Mr Ebimo Orlando Geko, Public Relations Officer (P.R.O) Yenagoa Central Security Force, a local vigilante group.
He explained that police officers attached to the ‘A’ Divisional Police headquarters in the state capital took advantage of the death of the said criminal to indiscriminately arrest youths of Obele community and vigilante officers who are going about their normal businesses.
He alleged that the said notorious criminal who was terrorising Yenagoa main town and neighbouring communities was reportedly killed by an angry mob when he was caught in one of his nefarious acts.
Speaking to Nigerian Tribune during the protest, Geko said the late Richman “had been terrorising people, raping women. Only for a night, he will break into five houses or shops and move away with people’s valuable items and also forcefully sleep with any woman he sees in the room both young and old; the worse part of it is that he used to rape them through their anus.
“The security men in Yenagoa main town known as Yenagoa central security force got hold of him sometimes ago, tortured him and handed him over to the ‘A’ Divisional of Police headquarters in Yenagoa,” Geko said.
“After two days, they were surprised that such a notorious criminal who had been committing capital and serious crimes against innocent citizens was released by the police.”
He added that Richman continued his act of stealing and dispossessing innocent citizens of their valuables at gunpoint before he was mobbed, adding that members of the Yenagoa Central Security were not part of the angry mob that killed the said criminal and should therefore not be harassed by the police.
