Suspected herdsmen rape, behead woman in Edo

A woman identified as Margaret Udiamehi has been raped and beheaded by suspected herdsmen at Ekpoma, Esan West local government area.

The body of the victim was found on Tuesday night by a search party after she failed to return home from the farm while the police discovered her severed head on Wednesday morning at a different location.

Angered by the brutal killing, women in the locality took to the streets of Ekpoma to demand expulsion of all herdsmen from the village and environs

The protesters went to the palace of Onojie of Ekpoma and the Divisional Police headquarters to vent their anger.

They said a woman earlier escaped from the herdsman who pursuit her but they took her cutlass.

Speaking on behalf of the protesters, one of the women who gave her name as Grace said they were tired of watching strangers destroyed their crops, rape and kill women in the village.

She called for government protection to allow them go to the farm.

Daughter of the deceased who did not give her name said her mother left for farm in the morning and did not return home which made a search party to the organised to look for her.

She said they searched through the night before her naked body was discovered at about 2am and her head chopped off.

Divisional Police Officer in Ekpoma, SP Franklin Akanonu, who confirmed the killing assured the protesters that the killers would be apprehended.

He urged the protesters to provide information that would help apprehend those behind the killing.

Sources told our reporter that policemen were deployed to the Ujuelen camp of Fulani herdsmen to protect them from any possible reprisal attacks.