Youths protest rape, murder of woman in Enugu

Angry youths of Emene, Enugu, on Thursday, protested the killing of a woman identified as Mrs Pat Ngwu from Ndiuno Nchatancha community of  Emene.
It was reported that the woman on Wednesday afternoon, went to her farmland with a wheel barrow to harvest cassava and never returned home.
That prompted her family  members to raise the alarm and a search party went  out.
It was gathered that the search in the farmland and nearby bush on Wednesday night yielded no result as only the wheelbarrow and her machete were seen.
A passersby on Thursday morning saw the mutilated corpse of a woman dumped by Asaba river.
Eyewitness accounts said that  several machete cuts were found on the lifeless body of the woman.
When youths rushed to the place, they discovered that it was the missing woman that was killed.
One of them said: “We found several machete cuts on her body including the head and neck with her pant removed and we are suspecting that she must have been attacked and raped by bandits in the bush”.
That led to a violent protest in Nchatancha and Obinagu communities on Thursday as angry youths from the area took to the streets.
They  blocked the Enugu -Abakaliki highway at Eke Obinagu market area and Annunciation Hospital junction, burning tyres and beating people including travellers.
Some vehicles were reportedly damaged by the youths who threatened to go after the bandits wherever they reside within the community to revenge the woman’s death.
Security operatives from Emene Police Division brought the situation under control and later took the corpse of the woman to Annunciation Hospital mortuary in Emene, Enugu for autopsy.
Police Public Relations Officer, Enugu State Police Command, SP Ebere Amaraizu, said the command had already commenced investigations into the matter.
He said: “Following the report of the incident of alleged murder case of a woman inside a farm land at Nchatancha community in Emene, Enugu State received by the command today,  the Commissioner of Police,  Suleiman Balarabe, has directed full scale investigations with a view to establishing what actually happened and persons involved and their motives amongst others.
“The command further advises members of the public  to continue to be law abiding and avoid anything that will truncate the existing peace and security in the state as security operatives will leave no stone unturned towards unmasking those behind the dastardly act”.