A 23-year-old labourer, Anthony Salihu of Gwanara, via Kaiama, Kwara State, who allegedly beat his master to death and set the corpse ablaze has been remanded at the Federal Prison, Oke-Kura, llorin.

The order to remand the accused was made by an llorin Magistrate Court before which he was arraigned on a one-count charge of culpable homicide, contrary to Section 221 of Penal Code Law.

The accused was said to have committed the crime on March 18, 2012 when he beat his master, one Kpura to death at the farm.

He was also accused of burning the lifeless body of the deceased before he buried it in a nearby bush.

The matter was reported at the Gwanara Divisional Police Station, Gwanara that while the accused and the deceased were working on the victim's farm, an argument ensued between them, as a result the accused clubbed the deceased until he was dead

According to the Police First Information Report (FIR) on the matter, the accused clubbed the deceased with a big stick and took the corpse to a nearby forest where he set it ablaze and thereafter buried the remains with a view to conceal the crime.

The FIR added that during investigation at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SC1D), llorin, the accused confessed to have committed the crime.

The prosecutor, Sergeant Matthew Ologbonsaye informed the court that investigation into the case is yet to be completed and he urged the court to adjourn the case until further date to enable the police complete their investigation.

The prosecutor also objected to the bail of the accused and urged the court to remand him at the prison custody, llorin, pending the outcome of the investigation.

Ruling on the oral application of the prosecutor, Magistrates S.A. Olanikewu stated that the alleged offence was capital in nature and not ordinarily bailable, even as he refused to take the plea of the accused for lack of jurisdiction to try the case.

Consequently, the court ordered that the accused be remanded at the Federal Prison, Oke-Kura, llorin, and adjourned the case till July 31, 2012 for further mention

Culled from The Herald