UNREPENTANT CRIMINALS ON THE LOOSE : ‘We came to retaliate’: Convicted robbers return to kill victim’s son after 10 years ... SunNews

“The man sent us to Abakaliki Prison 10 years ago. After we were released from prison, we came to retaliate. When we got to his house, we thought he was the person we saw sleeping on the bed in his room. We didn’t know it was his son before we shot him. It was a member of my gang who later said it was not Okorie Orie that we killed, that it was his son; we just had to escape from the scene. Later the man we wanted to kill identified us again to the police,” the gang leader, Okereke told the police.
This was the chilling account of an unrepentant gang of robbers who reportedly sought revenge on a man, Okorie Orie, who, according to them, sent them to jail ten years ago.

A decade ago, 37-year-old Uchenna Okereke, led six other robbers to rob Okorie Orie, dispossessing him of millions of naira and successfully escaped but the victim was able to recall the face of Okereke and he correctly identified him to the police, who acted on the information and arrested him and gang.

They were all convicted and slammed with 10-year jail term, which they served. Upon their release, however, Okereke assembled his gang for the long nursed revenge mission.

While speaking  with newsmen, the Ebonyi State Commissioner of Police, Maigari Dikko disclosed that the gang stormed the home of Orie at about 8:30pm a fortnight ago and killed his 28-year-old son, Onyekachi Orie.

The bereaved father in an  interview with Sunday Sun said: “It was a shock that I can never forget in my life. The suspect, Uchenna Okereke and his gang robbed me of millions of naira 10 years ago and ran away. I was able to remember his face and reported to the police. He was arrested with members of his gang and remanded at Abakaliki Prisons. They were tried and sentenced to jail for 10 years.

“Then that night, I was in my house when a dog started barking immediately I sensed danger. I came out and hid myself in a near­by bush. The suspect, Uchenna Okereke and his gang came into the house. I heard him asking my neighbours where my room was and they were shown my room. They saw somebody sleeping on the bed and thought I was the one. They didn’t know it was my son who was sleeping on the bed. They just shot him.

“From my hiding place, I heard one of the suspects say that the person who they shot was not me but my son. I summoned cour­age when I heard the gunshot and flashed my torchlight at them. I was able to identify the suspects, namely, Uchenna Okereke, Chuk­wuma Ozoemena and Nwabueze Nworu, who killed my son. Immediately I reported to policemen, who promptly arrested the suspects.”