How salesboy murdered master in Jalingo A salesboy in Jalingo, Taraba State, killed his master after serial loss of money at the shop.
The murder of a young Igbo business man, Mr Uche Obodo, by his sales boy last Sunday in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, is causing concerns among Igbo traders in the town.
Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that the late business man who hailed from Enugu State had employed, Rufus Amos as salesboy seven months ago to help him run his building materials business.
The late Uche, a father-of-three, has been running successful business until after he employed Rufus when he noticed that his sales were not appreciating.
Mrs Gloria Uche, wife of the deceased, while narrating what her husband told her about the boy before he was murdered, said he complained about a possible pilfering of proceeds of his sales.
Gloria told Daily Trust on Sunday at their newly-built house at Mechanic village, Jalingo that her husband noticed that each time the boy came back from the bank, he would say that between N10,000 and N15,000 was missing from the bale of each N100,000 given to him to deposit and that has been on for a long time.
“My husband set a trap and one day he recorded the total amount in each bundle of N1000 and N500 and handed the money to the salesboy to keep and the boy was not aware that my husband counted the number of notes in each bale.
“It was after the close of the day business, my husband asked the boy to give the money and he counted the notes in the bale and discovered that many notes were missing,” she said.
According to her, the following day her husband confronted the boy on the issue and the boy confessed that he was the one who had been stealing from the locker.
Gloria further disclosed that it was at that point that her husband informed the person that introduced the salesboy to him and seek for advice.
She explained that the boy had also confessed that he had a duplicate key of the locker and had been stealing money from the drawer.
“My husband suspended the boy for two weeks and asked him to return back the money he had stolen before he could be re-instated and the boy complied by bringing the sum of N29,000 and pieces of clothes he bought with the money he stole from my husband,” Gloria said.
She said it was on Saturday in the morning that her husband informed her of the decision he took against the salesboy as well as the boy’s confession.
“It was around 6.30pm that I was informed that my husband was murdered by the sales boy and his body was deposited at the hospital,” Gloria explained.
She said they were married for six years and they had three children two boys one girl, adding that she doesn’t know what to do now that her breadwinner was killed but appealed to police to ensure that justice was done.
Daily Trust on Sunday findings revealed that the salesboy secretly followed his master to a warehouse behind his shop and hit him with a hammer before stabbing him with a sharp knife in the back.
An eyewitness, Mr James Odo, told Daily Trust on Sunday that the late Uche was in the warehouse to inspect some items at about 6.40pm when the salesboy committed the act. James disclosed that the suspect was apprehended while trying to escape and handed over to the police.
A leader in the church where the late Uche worshipped, Reverend Father John Laikie, said that his church had lost a good and dedicated member who was always willing to do a task given to him.
He, however called on the police to ensure that perpetrators in the murder were brought to book, adding that it was failure to punish those that commit crime that the society is now facing crimes of different dimensions.
Also, the leadership of the Igbo community in the state has condemned the gruesome murder and called on the relevant authorities to ensure that justice was done.
The Chairman, Mr Chris Obi, said the murder of Uche in his business premises had grave implications in the state generally if not addressed expediently.
He called on his members to remain calm and law abiding and also to go about their business but be wary of the kind of people they recruit as sales assistants and guards at their businesses.