SUSPECTED ritualists have beheaded a commercial motorcyclist at Ekpoma in Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State and carted his head away in one of the goriest attacks ever witnessed in the community. 

According to eyewitness, the gruesome incident occurred at 8pm on a lonely street adjacent to the Ambrose Alli University College of Medicine. After beheading the Okada rider, the ritualists left his body in a pool of blood with splashes all over the scene. 

It was learnt that the hoodlums boarded the motorcycle, pretending to be passengers and then attacked the driver once they were aboard. One local resident said he heard a loud shout for help, accompanied with heavy bangs on the gates of some houses on the street. 

Apparently, the ritualists reportedly overpowered the hapless motorcyclist and took away his head. After local residents found the headless body the following morning in a pool of blood, they alerted the police, who removed it. 

Across Esan West Local Government Area, residents are said to have become used to retreating indoors early, following constant robbery attacks on the street. 

Police spokesman A A Shaibu, the divisional police officer in charge of Esan West Local Government, confirmed the incident, adding that the matter had been transferred to the command’s headquarters in Benin for further investigation. Another police source said some suspects, including the younger brother of the deceased, were being investigated over the crime. 

“The younger brother is being interrogated as the last person that called the deceased’s mobile phone before the killing,” the source added.