24th May, 2012
Losing his temper after being hit on the head for refusing to serve Indomie Noodles, a 12-year- old boy stabbed a 27-year old carpenter, Ibrahim Mohammed at Badiko area, Kaduna to death.
The boy called Hassan Abdullahi who is currently held by the police, helps his elder brother, Sani Abdullahi, to sell Indomie Noodles and fried egg at Badiko Junction, Kaduna Northwest Nigeria.
According to information gathered by P.M.NEWS from the Police Public Relations Officer , Aminu Lawan, the boy, who is a twin, during interrogation, confessed to have stabbed the carpenter.
Lawan told P.M.NEWS that Hassan told the police that the late Mohammed was a regular customer to his elder brother’s Indomie joint but most times ate and left without paying.
This is the confessional statement of the boy: “I was at my brother’s tea shop when Mohammed came to me to buy noodles. I told him I will not cook it for him because he doesn’t pay. And if my brother should ask him, he would lie that he has given me the money. When I refused, he raised me up, saying that he will put me on the roof of the tea shop. As I was struggling with him, I used the knife with me on him. It was not deliberate. I was using the knife to slice onions and tomatoes before the argument ensued. He did not die immediately, he died at the hospital.
“Though I dropped out of school in primary two, I preoccupied myself in my brother’s tea shop. I’m always at the shop with my twin brother, who was also there during the fight. I did what I did in self defence and I never meant to kill him.”
An eye witness, Suleiman Usman, who spoke when P.M.NEWS visited the Badiko residence of the boy, said he was at the joint when Hassan stabbed Mohammed around the heart region last weekend.
According to Usman , the incident happened around 7 p.m. on Saturday when Mohammed visited the shop and requested to be served Indomie and two eggs . But because Hassan knew that Mohammed eats without paying, he refused to serve him.
“Mohammed waited for over forty minutes to be served but Hassan served those who came after him . At this point , Mohammed got angry and shouted at him and Hassan told him ‘go and meet your mother to cook Indomie for you’,” Usman explained.
P.M.NEWS gathered that it was after what Mohammed termed ‘disrespect’ from a small boy like Hassan that he hit him on the head.
Hassan who at that point was cutting onions to prepare Indomie for other customers, stood up and used the knife in his hand to stab Mohammed.
After committing the crime, Hasssan ran away but was later arrested by the police.
The Kaduna PPRO however said that the case for the police is a complex one because the boy in question is a minor and cannot be prosecuted.
He said arrangement has been made to send the boy for a psychiatric test to ascertain his mental state.
—Adi Femi/Kaduna