It was quite a spectacle in Abraka, the university town of Delta State, when a 25-year-old man who specialises in selling stolen goat meat was apprehended by a vigilante group at Urhuoka-Abraka, Ethiope East Local Government Area.

The suspect, simply identified as Kojo, was reported to have met his waterloo while strangling a goat in an uncompleted building at around 2:30 a.m.

While narrating the incident to News Express, the head of the Urhuoka Vigilante Formation, Mr. Sunday Akpoweme, said the suspect had been under their checklist since November, 2014, following series of reports about missing goats in the community.

He noted that Kojo was identified as a suspect by two of their informants following his clandestine movements at nights.

He also explained that another factor that gave rise to his suspicion was the fact that customers who patronize him have expressed amazement at the cheap price at which he sold his goat meat.

“Other people who sell meat in the community have been complaining that his goat meat was too cheap. A pound of meat which normally goes for N500 could be bought at N200 or less from him” adding that “it was as a result of this anomaly that people began to wonder where he buys his goats from as well as how he makes profit from the business.

“Two of our informants have said that they suspect him because he is always moving at night, so we decided to trail him,” Mr. Akpobome explained.

Narrating further, he disclosed that the goat meat seller ran out of luck on that fateful night when one of the vigilante members sighted him along a narrow path. Believing that Kojo was up to some mischief, he quickly alerted his colleagues in the vigilante group, after which they trailed him until he entered an uncompleted building which was clustered by over grown grasses.

It was, however, discovered later that the isolated building was a home to several goats which gather there to spend their nights.

According to the vigilante man, the culprit stealthily entered the building and after about 10 minutes, which he ostensibly spent to ensure that he was alone and unnoticed, he quickly grabbed one of the sleeping goats on its neck and, with the expertise of a professional murderer, he strangled the goat.

“After killing the goat, he opened a big Ghana-Must-Go bag, kept the goat inside and waited for another 10 minutes before coming out of the uncompleted building carrying the heavy bag on his shoulder,” the vigilante boss narrated.

He stated that it was at that point that he was apprehended and taken to their (vigilante) meeting point where he was subjected to physical tortures till dawn.

As at the early morning of the day, the vigilante disclosed the news of the goat theft spread to the three community. When the people gathered to see him, he was identified as a well-known goat meat seller.

They then insisted on subjecting him to public disgrace. They hung the dead goat over his neck and forced him to dance round the town.

•Photo shows the goat thief being paraded by the vigilante.

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