20-year-old man arrested for killing mother over refusal to bathe him

One Oforbuike Damian, who is 20 years old, macheted his mother to death, this last weekend in Ohatekwe Ukawu, Onicha Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. The development has left residents in shock and mourning, as details of the event spread across the community.

Reports say the incident happened over the weekend. Local leaders and young people quickly took notice and sprang into action after learning what had occurred.

People living nearby claim that the suspect allegedly used a machete to attack his mother, which tragically led to her death.

After the attack, he reportedly ran off and hid in a nearby forest, seemingly trying to escape capture.

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This whole situation put the community on edge, and residents immediately banded together to organize a search party.

The seriousness of the crime, combined with the relationship between the suspect and his victim, only deepened the distress felt by those in the community.

Youth groups from the area rallied together in large numbers to help find the suspect. It's been said that over 200 young people joined the search, thoroughly scouring the forest where he was thought to be hiding.

Eventually, he was discovered and brought back to where everyone lived.

His return was a big deal, and people gathered to see what would happen next, underscoring how seriously the community was taking the situation.

When he arrived, the young men of the community led him around publicly.

After this, the community decided to banish him, which is an old custom sometimes used for very serious wrongdoings.

Throughout this, he was told clearly not to return to the community.

All of this really showed how the community was reacting to the incident and how they were trying to distance themselves from it.

The whole time, things felt very tense as everyone tried to make sense of the events that had just played out.

He said, “I killed my mother because she refused to bathe me and also refused to rent a shop for my brother, who learned hair cutting and is looking for money to open a barbing salon.”

It is a common practice in Igbo communities to banish offenders. We saw this two months back, where women from the Egbema Ozubulu community in Anambra State banished an elderly man accused of allegedly raping a married woman, enforcing what they described as a traditional form of communal justice. 

The incident occurred in the Uruezi Egbema area of Ozubulu, located in the Ekwusigo Local Government Area, and came to public attention after videos of the act circulated widely on social media early this month.