‘Barber Stabs customer to death’

The victim who has just concluded his Ordinary National Diploma (OND) programme at the Lagos State Polytechnic on that very day, according to the police, came to the barber’s shop to re-shape his hair probably in preparation towards a blissful lover’s day celebration which is being observed internationally was on Valentine’s Day. On getting to […]

The victim who has just concluded his Ordinary National Diploma (OND) programme at the Lagos State Polytechnic on that very day, according to the police, came to the barber’s shop to re-shape his hair probably in preparation towards a blissful lover’s day celebration which is being observed internationally was on Valentine’s Day.

On getting to the barber’s   shop which is situated at 48 Owoseni Street in the notorious Oshodi, Lagos, the police told Oodua Trust that the barber’s generating set suddenly developed a mechanical fault. The deceased, simply identified as Kayode Adeogun, who could no longer tolerate the waiting process, assisted the barber and his shop boy to put the generating set on and before 30 minutes the young man was on his way out of the shop. However, as he was about  to walk out of the barbing salon, he suddenly remembered  that he left his handset  beside the generating set  when he assisted the barber to start the generator  and went to take it,but to his  utmost surprise, the handset  was nowhere to be seen. Eye-witnesses told Oodua Trust that naturally, a disagreement ensued between the parties and in the process, the deceased was said to have given the barber a blow on his right eye which swelled up immediately.

 Neighbours and passersby were reported to have intervened and quelled the quarrel. The feuding parties were separated and each one told to go his way.

The story would have died down if not for some neighbours who started mocking the victim, calling him lazy bone and all sorts of derogatory names. The jesters maintained that the barber should go and retaliate for the dirty blow he received from Kayode Adeogun, the deceased. Not being able to stomach the abuse, Rafiu took hold of a beer bottle and ran after Kayode. He stabbed Kayode forcefully on the left side of the chest just below the heart. Kayode was said to have fallen into a nearby   gutter, writhing in   pains.

Eye-witnesses said that instead of the barber to let go of his helpless victim who was already drenched in the pool of his blood, he went into the gutter and stabbed him again and again on the forehead and right eye.

Sympathizers  were said to have rushed  Kayode who was  now a sorry sight to a nearby private  hospital but he was  rejected and referred immediately to the Ikeja General Hospital  where he was said to had given up the ghost as a result of  loss of blood.

In his confessional statement at the Akinpelu police station where the case was reported, the suspect who claimed that he neither smoked nor drank pleaded that it was the work of the devil.