Man Tortures Apprentice To Death Over Allegations Of Poor Sales

Family members and relatives of Master Tochukwu Nwagbala have called on police to investigate the circumstances surrounding the alleged murder of their son. The late Nwagbala, an apprentice in Benin, Edo State, was allegedly murdered by his master under whom he had served for several years. The distraught family has petitioned the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Chris Ezike, alleging conspiracy among top officers of the state police command over Nwagbala’s death. The family asked Ezike to order investigation to unravel how the body of Ezike was dumped at the Benin by-pass. According to the family, the late Nwagbala had for over the years, managed the business for his boss.

The master was said to have recently travelled out of the country. He was reported to have on return, allegedly tortured the apprentice to death over allegations of poor returns.

In the petition to the commissioner of police, the family alleged that it learnt that Nwagbala was tortured to death by his boss and others now at large. Counsel to the family, Lanre Ajetunmobi, in the petition, said that Nwagbala was beaten with cane and electric cable by his boss for several hours and when he fainted, he took his remains in his car to Faith Mediplex in Benin. Ajetunmobi added that at the clinic, Nwagbala was declared as “brought in dead,” while an autopsy report by the police revealed that he died of “acute cardiovascular failure from severe torture”.

The lawyer alleged that at the DPO’s office, Nwagbala’s master feigned ignorance of the circumstances of the boy’s death, which warranted the case to be transferred to the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID), Benin.