The final burial rites of one late Lawrence Ufomadu, a native of Afor Nkwu in Umuahia North Local Government were briefly halted following the detention of his corpse as a result of misconduct of the deceased’s mourners on Thursday.
Trouble started when one of the vehicles in the motorcade conveying his remains to his home town hit a commercial tricycle operator around Umuaya by Bende road in Umuahia, the capital of Abia State.
An eyewitness told Southern City News that when the yet-to-be identified tricycle operator came out to check what happened, some angry mourners attacked him and inflicted a deep cut on his head with a broken bottle.
According to the eyewitness, “But for the intervention of onlookers, the mourners would have killed the tricycle operator the way they fought him.
“Most of the youths in the motorcade were holding bottles of alcoholic drink; so, it seemed they were acting under the influence of alcohol.”
The ensuing fracas attracted the attention of a standby police patrol team, which quickly intervened and ordered that both parties be taken to the thereby Rail Police Station.
The matter was later transferred to the Central Police Station, Umuahia for further investigation, especially to ascertain the circumstance leading to the attack on the tricycle operator.
When contacted, the State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ogbonaya Nta confirmed the incident.
Nta, however, pointed out that the corpse had been released for burial while those involved in the act of assault were still in detention as a result of their unruly behaviour.
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