THE Delta State Police Command says efforts are on to unravel the actual circumstances surrounding the alleged murder of a middle-aged man by his employee.
Anwaji Moses, a 26-year-old apprentice/employee was alleged to have snuffed life out of his 38-year-old boss, allegedly, over unpaid salary arrears.
A statement issued by the Delta State Police Command spokesperson, Bright Edafe, revealed that the deceased, Victor Ochei was killed by his apprentice over alleged failure to pay him about six months accumulated salaries.
According to Edafe, Moses confessed to killing his boss over disagreements arising from his refusal to pay him over N300,000 accumulated salaries.
“The deceased met his death when he was going to his site alongside his boy, someone he employed and paid salaries.
The suspect is, however, claiming that the man owed him for about six to eight months, the sum of N300,000, and because he was angry with his employer, he murdered him with a pestle.
“The deceased had an oil milling factory where this boy (suspect) was also working for him”, the Police spokesman revealed.
In his confessional statement, the suspect noted that at a point he stopped working for his late employer over his failure to fulfil his contractual obligations.
But he had to return to work after much pleas from his boss who, instead of making efforts to pay him his salary arrears, resorted to giving him a daily feeding allowance of N500.
“Each time I demanded to be paid, he (employer) would tell me that I am being in a hurry; and that I should calm down, that he is building a house. In all these, he was aware that I don’t have any other source of assistance”, Moses stated.
The suspect disclosed that he hit the deceased twice with a pestle in the wake of a hot exchange of words, while both of them were heading for the purchase of palm fruits for palm oil production.
Moses, who escaped with the deceased’s motorcycle and phone after hiding his corpse, later to demanded a ransom of N10m from his late boss’s family when they called to ascertain his whereabouts.
The suspect had claimed that his employer was held in a kidnappers den, following a call from his worried sister.
“I was scared and didn’t want anybody to discover. So, I took his phone and when his sister called, I told her that she should send me money because he had been kidnapped.
“I asked for N10 million to be paid into an Opay account, Moses narrated.
The police authorities said that while the corpse of the deceased has been deposited in the morgue, further investigations were ongoing and all found culpable would be made to face the wrath of the law.