Herdsmen kill Delta man for attempting to prevent wife’s rape

UGHELLI—Palace chiefs in Ogor Kingdom, Delta State, had hectic time, weekend, preventing aggrieved members of the community from taking the corpse of a 54-year-old pipeline guard, Anthony Ejabare, reportedly killed by herdsmen into the palace.

It was gathered that the 54- year-old man was, Saturday, killed by suspected herdsmen while trying to prevent his wife from being raped in her farm at Edjekota community of Ughelli North Local Government Area of the state.

A community source said the aggrieved family members of the deceased, with the support of some community members in protest, took the corpse to the palace of Ovie of Ogor Kingdom, in what chiefs of the kingdom described as sacrilegious.

They then took the corpse to Ughelli Area Command, where they were met by senior officers, who took the statement of the widow.

A security source at the Area Command, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “From the statement given by widow, who is the witness, she was accosted by an armed herdsman who asked her to put down the cassava stems she carried on her head in an attempt to rape her else he was going to shoot her.

“While she was pleading with the gunman, her husband, who was stationed as a guard in a pipeline close to her farm, walked into them and upon sighting the husband, the assailant shot him and fled into the bush.”