20-year-old apprentice kills master, dumps body in well

The Ondo State Police Command has arrested a 20-year-old apprentice, Josiah Godwin, for allegedly hacking his master, Savior Joseph, to death in the Imafon community, in the state’s Akure South Local Government Area.

PUNCH subway learned that after killing the deceased, the suspect dumped his corpse in a well on a property where they were working.

A source said the trouble started when the deceased, an asbestos operator, smashed the suspect’s phone over a dispute and the suspect attacked the deceased in retaliation.

The elder brother of the deceased, Mr. Odey Ogbaji, related the incident and said that the body of the 27-year-old was found four days ago in a well at the place where he (deceased) and his apprentice (suspect) went to work.

He said: “Tuesday last week my brother called me in the morning and we talked. But on Wednesday I tried his number, but I couldn’t get through. I thought he had a dead battery, until Saturday when I got a call from another younger brother of mine informing me of his attempts to reach him, but unsuccessfully.

“Then the pupil of the deceased was contacted. When they got the boy, they asked him about his master’s whereabouts and he said that his boss woke him up at night, took his phone, knocked him down and started beating him and later asked him to go again to sleep.

“He said he decided to leave the site the next day. So we asked him how he would wake up in the morning without seeing his boss and leave the premises. He said he thought his master was going to a toilet when he left.

“When we checked the phone he said was broken, it wasn’t scratched.”

State Police Public Relations Officer Ms. Funmilayo Odunlami confirmed the incident and added that the suspect had been arrested.

She said: ‘The boy was angry, killed his boss and threw his body into a well. The case has been handed over to the State Criminal Investigation Department and after investigation, he will be charged.”