Tragedy struck in the Mile 12 Ketu, area of Lagos State after the corpse of a 28-year-old graduate, identified simply as Kehinde, was found in a well.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the victim, who lived with his father on Omosebi Olugbo Street, had been declared missing before his bloated body was found in an abandoned well in their house on Friday.
Residents told our correspondent that Kehinde had been attacked by a strange mental illness for about five years and was always indoors.
He was said to have recovered recently from the illness before he was found dead in the well.
He was said to have been hurriedly brought out and buried by the family.
When our correspondent visited the street on Friday, the shops attached to the house were locked.
A resident, John Awesu, said the shop owners stopped business activities after Kehinde’s corpse was recovered that morning.
Awesu said the deceased was well known in the area.
He said, “Kehinde and his twin brother are well educated and they graduated from the university together. Their mother died a few years back, but their father stays in the house.
“He had been sick for the past five years and because of that, he was always kept indoors.
“His illness was strange because it was off and on. On a particular day, he absent-mindedly walked away from the house before somebody who knew him brought him back home.
“They used to chain his legs and hands to keep him indoors. A few times that he stepped out, he was in chains.”
It was learnt that Kehinde suddenly went missing from the house and the family began looking for him on Wednesday.
He was said to have been found in the well on Friday.
A resident said, “We were preparing for sahur to begin our fasting that morning when we saw an ambulance enter their house. We immediately sensed something was amiss.
“It was after the corpse had been taken away that the family told the landlords and some family friends that they found his body in the abandoned well.
“The well was always locked. The residents in the house depend on the community borehole for water. How Kehinde entered the well is a mystery.”
PUNCH Metro was told that the family hurriedly buried the victim.
Another resident described Kehinde as soft-spoken and gentle. The resident, who did not identify himself, explained that on the day the victim was declared missing, he came to his shop to buy something.
He said, “He was a gentle and nice young man. He was at my shop to buy a bottle of water. I even joked with him because he appeared to have recovered from his sickness. There was a time he was very lean and almost died because of the mental problem.”
Our correspondent observed as some friends and relatives poured into the house to pay condolence visit to the family.
PUNCH Metro approached one of the family friends to say what he knew about the deceased.
However, the friend, who confirmed the incident, said he needed the permission of the family to comment.
Our correspondent was asked to stay outside the building.
When he emerged from the house, he said the family was not in a good mood and did not permit him to talk.
He said, “I am sorry. The family members said they did not want to talk about it. They are not in a mood to discuss the incident.”
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Kenneth Nwosu, said the case was not reported to the police.
He said, “The matter was not reported and when our team went there, the occupants of the building denied that anything like that happened.”
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