A 15-year-old commercial tricycle rider, identified only as "Smally," was savagely hacked to death in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State. The brutal murder took place when the young rider, who had been in the business for less than a month, unknowingly picked up his killer, a man identified as Jereoma from Jeddo Community, during a routine trip between Ugbuwangue and Ogunu.
According to eyewitness reports, the horrific attack occurred between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Smally was ambushed and axed to death by Jereoma, who then dumped the teen’s mutilated body in a plantain farm near a private school at the Ogunu head bridge.
The killer, still drenched in the blood of his victim, attempted to flee the scene with the stolen tricycle. However, his getaway was cut short when the tricycle veered off into a ditch. Nearby Hausa traders, noticing the commotion, rushed to help but were horrified to find Jereoma covered in blood. Their suspicions quickly escalated when he failed to provide convincing answers about the tricycle’s ownership.
According to sources, when they inquired about the real owner of the keke from him, he became inaudible and confused without any genuine and convincing answer.
The traders alerted the Ugbuwangue community task force, who apprehended the suspect and brought him in for questioning. When Jereoma remained tight-lipped about the whereabouts of the tricycle’s owner, the task force handed him over to a nearby military post on the NPA expressway.
In a grim discovery, a group of fellow tricycle riders scoured the area and stumbled upon Smally’s lifeless body, viciously mutilated, with his skull split open from the back. The gruesome sight sparked outrage and fury among the gathered crowd.
The corpse was brought to the military post on the MPA expressway at Ugbuwangue.
In a swift act of mob justice, the enraged crowd stormed the military post, forcefully retrieving Jereoma from custody. In an act of vengeance, they set him ablaze, taking the law into their own hands before police officers, local government authorities, and soldiers from the 3 Battalion Army Barracks could intervene.
By the time authorities arrived, it was too late—Jereoma had been burned alive.
