Gunmen (file photo)

…head later displayed in front of the gate of community primary school.

Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt

Unknown gunmen,  at about 10 pm on Wednesday May 23, throw residents of Rumuekini community in Obio-Akpor local government area of Rivers State into mourning as they shot dead a man and went on to  behead him.

Bisi, the horrified wife of the victim, narrated that after her husband, Chima  was shot who dead in her presence, she was forced at gunpoint to fetch kitchen knife, which they used in beheading him.

The traumatized wife said she was further forced to carry the husband’s head in a bowl she was forced to provide them, before they took it away.

According to the devastated wife, Bisi, “My husband and his sister, Ogechi were in the parlour when we heard the sound of a gun. I was startled. As I made my way to another room in fright, I saw the lifeless body of my husband. They barked at me that if make any move to escape, I will be shot dead too. They asked me to bring kitchen knife for them which I did. They also asked me to bring a bowl, but I brought a bucket. They took time in my presence, severed the head from the body and forced me to carry the head and put it inside the bucket. They then carried away the head,” she narrated in tears.

The brother of the victim, Collins Echenumo, said the head of his brother was later discovered where it was displayed on a table in front of the community primary school.

He said his late brother was 42 years old and he had two children: “My brother had two children. His first wife is late. Before I came here, I saw his body lying here without the head. We went out in search and later found the head at the gate of the community primary school in Rumuekini and brought his head back.”

It was not clear if the deceased belonged to any cult which may have warranted his life being nuffed out in such gruesome manner.

Rivers State Police Command has reacted to the gory incident.