A newspaper vendor in Calabar, Cross River State, Mr. Innocent
Monday-Francis, was on Thursday murdered after an argument that followed
his refusal to allow one of his neighbours, identified as Eno, to read
the papers.
Monday-Francis (22), who sold newspapers around the popular Flour
Mill junction, along the Murtala Mohammed Highway in Calabar, had
retired to a neighbourhood bar at Ikot-Effanga area of Calabar to take a
bottle of drink when the incident occurred.
The deceased’s younger brother, Mr. Gabriel Monday-Francis, said his
brother went to work as usual on Thursday morning and on his way back
home in the evening he stopped at a nearby drinking spot for a bottle of
drink.
He said those at the drinking spot had alleged that the assailant,
who is now on the run, had picked up one of the deceased’s newspapers to
read but the vendor told him not to read any of the papers.
He (Monday-Francis) accused the assailant of not only reading the
papers for free on all occasions, but that on one or two instances, he
had taken copies away without his knowledge.
The deceased’s brother said after that disagreement, Eno got angry
and slapped his brother and in retaliation he (Monday-Francis) emptied
the content of his glass on the assailant but after people’s
intervention, the vendor immediately went home.
He said his late brother, who was already relaxed at home and eating
outside, met his death when the assailant came from behind to hit him on
his neck twice with shovel and he immediately slumped and died.
“It was while he was already at home eating outside that Eno came to
hit him with shovel twice his neck and head and he slumped and died
immediately,” the brother said.
It was gathered that when the incident happened, the assailant’s
elder brother, whose identity could not be confirmed as at the time of
filing this report, rushed to the Federal Housing Police Station in
Calabar Municipality to inform the police of what had happened but by
the time they got back to the scene of the incident, the assailant had
disappeared.
The employer of the deceased, Mr. Etim Dennis, said he was shocked to
receive a call on Friday morning that his highest selling vendor had
been murdered.
He said, “We are all in mourning now because Monday-Francis was the highest selling vendor I had,” he said.
The deceased’s mother, Mrs. Happiness Monday-John, said that she was
called on the phone that her son was dead and truly on getting home, she
saw Monday-Francis lying down on the ground and she called him many
times without answer.
The police at the Federal Housing Police Station had on Friday morning taken his corpse to the mortuary.
The Cross River State Police Public Relations officer, Mr. John Umoh, said the suspect was already at large.
Umoh explained that the assailant’s brother, who was being detained,
would not answer for a crime committed by his brother but that the
police was only trying to get information that would facilitate the
arrest of the culprit.-PUNCH
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