Fear reigns in the entire community of Ibiasoegbe, near Mgbidi, headquarters of Oru-East Local Government Area following the gruesome murder of a 66-year-old woman, Mrs. Josephine Okorie in her farm at about 9am on Monday, March 31.

The remains of church warden

The attackers apparently laid ambush and matcheted the woman at the back of the neck. They were about collecting the decapitated head when they heard the voice of another woman, who was coming along the path.  They ran away, leaving the head and body.

Mr. Monday Okorie, son of the deceased, said it was the woman, who raised the alarm which attracted other farmers.  Unfortunately the suspects had escaped.  He said that his mother was a warden at St. Paul’s Catholic Church Ibiasoegbe, and that they had celebrated Mother’s Day with her the previous day.

The late woman’s bicycle and cassava roots were seen beside her corpse.  The villagers reported the case to the Mgbidi Police Division before depositing the body in a mortuary.

The Leader learnt that two suspects from a neighbouring state had been arrested.  When one of them was searched substances suspected to be Indian hemp were found on him.

On how the suspects were nabbed, Mr. Okorie said they were found near the scene of the murder and the villagers could not comprehend what they were doing in such a remote farm, which is very far away from their state.

They were handed over to the police.  Our reporter learnt that the case has been transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Police Headquarters Owerri.

The family has appealed to the Imo State Police Commissioner to see that the case was not swept under the carpet.

When The Leader contacted the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mrs. Joy Elemoko she confirmed the incident and said two suspects are helping the Police in their investigations.

It should be recalled that a similar incident happened at Egbu near Owerri on June 1, 2012 when Mrs. Evelyn Uzodinma was brutally murdered and her head cut-off.  She was buried without her head.

The family of late Mrs. Uzodinma had told The Leader during her one year memorial at Sacred Heart Catholic Church Egbu, June 9, 2013, that despite the fact that both the motorcyclist (okada man) that carried the suspects and the person that made the call, informing the suspects about the woman’s presence in the farm are all in police net, the police still claim that they have not gotten any clue on the murderers and that the two in their custody have not provided any clue to the whereabouts of the killers neither do they have  enough evidence to prosecute them.

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