How ‘madman’ killed two, injured five in Adamawa

The suspect who allegedly hides under the cloak of insanity to kill unsuspecting residents and threaten to eat their flesh or use them for ritual purposes, had macheted seven people, two of them feared dead and five others seriously injured and hospitalized. The 20-year-old Mr Richard Bitrus popularly known as Danladi attacked  his first three […]

The suspect who allegedly hides under the cloak of insanity to kill unsuspecting residents and threaten to eat their flesh or use them for ritual purposes, had macheted seven people, two of them feared dead and five others seriously injured and hospitalized.

The 20-year-old Mr Richard Bitrus popularly known as Danladi attacked  his first three victims, Buba Jabbari, whose nose was chopped-off and the two other deceased, a  45-year-old Malam Murtala Adamu Bakari and 53-year-old Mr Yakubu Yerima, a local hunter, whom he matcheted to death

The incident occurred last Friday evening in Dundere village where, after committing the heinous act, the man alleged to have been initiated into cultism for over 10 years, went into hiding, a situation that gave all the people of Dundere-Labbare village and surrounding villages a sleepless night, while others were compelled to abandon their homes to safer places.

A combined patrol team of the police and vigilante group went searching for him but could not find him until two days after, when he mysteriously appeared with a machete and engaged in a serious fight where he succeeded in injuring three men and in the process, he was beaten to death by men of the vigilante group.

When Sunday Trust visited the village, it looked deserted. The village head of Sindigawo, Malam Hammadu Boyi, told Sunday Trust that, “this man is notorious, and he has been exhibiting cult antics and has been threatening to kill people for ritual purposes.”

He noted that his parents had for long been warned about the strange behaviour of the man, calling on parents to be wary of the kind of company their children keep.

Narrating his ordeal, Malam Buba Jabbari, whose nose was chopped-off, recalled that, “I was passing by when the man took a machete and attacked us, inflicting cuts on us before I was rescued and taken to the hospital.’’

He dismissed the notion that the man could be a lunatic. “No, I don’t believe that Bala was a mad man because he has never exhibited such behavior.  Could you imagine that all efforts to gun him down proved abortive? To me, he has spiritual powers.’’

Also corroborating, a local vigilante man, who was also one of the victims, now admitted at the hospital, Ali Garkuwa told Sunday Trust that all efforts to arrest the man could not succeed.  “We saw wonders in this man because we even tried with the police combined team to disarm him by shooting but all was to no avail as our guns could not trigger-off.’’

Garkuwa was emphatic that the man had human structure but a demon’s heart.  “As we advanced to arrest him, he would just change like a chameleon,’’ he said.

When contacted, the Divisional Police Officer in the area, DSP Odumu Williams, confirmed the incidence but however, declined making further comments, saying it is only the state PPRO that will speak on the matter.

The police public relations officer, Alhira Altine Daniel, while confirming the incident, said police are seriously investigating the matter.

The chairman of the council, Mr Adamu Kwanate, in company of his council members and the secretary, had since condoled with the family of the deceased and those hospitalized. He sympathized with the condition of those hospitalized and directed the immediate payment of their medical expenses.

Sunday Trust gathered that the remains of the deceased have since been buried as parents and relatives of the suspected man have fled.