From Ogbonnaya Ndukwe, Aba
Gunmen suspected to be armed robbers, on Wednesday, killed a female trader in Umudioka Osisioma, in Abia State, and stole her bag containing an undisclosed sum of money made from sales.
The deceased, whose name was given as Mrs Chinonso Onyeukwu, was allegedly shot at close range, when she tried to stop the bandits from making away with her hand bag containing cash, said to be proceeds from sale of building materials in her husband’s shop. She allegedly died at a private clinic she was taken to for treatment.
A witnesses told Daily Sun that the bandits had come to the community market, in Osisioma Ngwa Council Area, near Aba, looking for her husband, Mr Onyeukwu, who actually, was a building materials dealer, but missed him, and then resorted to snatching the handbag of his late wife, Chinonso.
It was gathered that late Chinonso, not knowing that the bandits had a gun, resisted and dragged the bag from being taken away from her, and during the scuffle, one of the robbers shot her as they made away with the bag containing an undisclosed amount of cash.
Meanwhile, youths in the area were said to have barricaded the market area and roads in the community, in angry protests for several hours, over the killing.
Efforts to reach the new Abia Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Maureen Chinaka, for comments, were not successful, but a senior police source in Osisioma Division said a complaint had been lodged on the killing, while the body of the deceased had been deposited in a mortuary, pending commencement of investigations.
