The police command in Lagos has arrested a landlord and three others for allegedly lynching a mentally-challenged man, Chigozie Jideofor.
The command’s Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the arrest on Tuesday in Lagos.
The Herald learnt that the victim jumped into the compounds of two residential buildings around Onireke, opposite the Ojo Military Cantonment, Ojo, Lagos State on Sunday.
Hundeyin pointed out that this was another sad case of jungle justice, wondering when people would learn not to take laws into their hands.
He said that preliminary investigation revealed that Jideofor left home without his caregivers, stressing that the occupants of the building he allegedly jumped into mistook him for a thief.
“The victim was mentally-challenged and they were taking care of him in his house. But on that particular day, his family members were not around and usually, when they were not around, they locked him in his room.
“Somehow, he was able to get out of the room, walk around and scale the fence into somebody else’s premises. So, people took him for a robber, attacked him and beat him to a pulp.
“The police got there when they got wind of what was happening and took him to the hospital where he died on Sunday.
“The landlord, the security man and two other people have been arrested for the crime,” he said.
Meanwhile, it was further gathered that the victim was beaten by the residents of the building, who mistook him for a robber.
According to sources, a relation of the victim, who had been looking for him, sighted him jumping into the compound and made effort to rescue him from the residents of the building before the police were invited to the scene