[b]Madam Beatrice Chibueze, the mother of the notorious armed robber and cross-border kidnapper who was killed of recent by the Nigerian police force in a forest in Rivers State, has said that he started his criminal career at a very young age and killed someone when he was just 12 years old.
The kidnapper kingpin, Henry Onyekachi Chibueze whose nickname of Vampire ordinarily sent shivers down the spines of residents of Imo State and other southeastern states before he was mowed down in a gun battle with the police, according to his mother, was a thorn in the flesh not only to his family but also to the people of Umuokpu Umuezeala Abaja Isu in Nwangele Local Government Area of Imo State where he came from.
According to the old mother, Madam Beatrice Chibueze who spoke to Daily Sun, the death of her son not only brought relief to her and the immediate family but to the entire community as he was a big disgrace to them.Vampire who was said to have killed more than 200 people during his reign of terror including his girlfriend, two pregnant sisters and six children of the same parents, the woman narrated, was always ready to kill and his thirst for blood knew no bounds.
It was gathered that Vampire who was born in 1981 to the family of late Chief Emmanuel Chibueze, had been acting as if he was possessed by an evil spirit and had become a terror in the community at a very tender age.
He was said to have killed a fellow pupil when he was just 12 years old during a fight while still in primary five at Umuokpu Community Primary School.
That was the end of his formal education as he dropped out of school after his father had to pay compensation to the family of the victim.
After dropping out of school, Vampire refused to learn any trade but rather joined a gang called ‘Hunters’ from a neighboring community and thus began his life of crime, smoking marijuana stealing people’s goats and fowls, which they either sold or killed and ate.Madam Chibueze further explained that her son was an evil child as all efforts by his late father to ensure that he became a responsible person proved abortive.
She speaks further:
“Henry Onyekachi Chibueze was my son. He was born in 1981. My late husband had enrolled him at the Community School Umuokpu in Abaja, but he had to drop out at primary five after he killed his classmate during a fight at school and he was just 12 years old.
That incident caused the family a lot of problems and my late husband had to pay compensation to the family of the boy before the matter was resolved. Henry had always acted like somebody who was possessed by Agwu (evil spirit) and at a time, the family had thought of making a sacrifice to the gods of the land to see if that could make him act responsibly.
When he dropped out from primary school, he refused to learn any vocational skill but had instead joined some bad boys in the community where he started this armed robbery and kidnapping.
Even though our family is a polygamous one, my late husband had ensured that all his children were educated, but it was only my son who refused to be useful like his other brothers and sisters.
In fact, it was the disgrace and shame brought to the family that led to the death of my late husband, who developed hypertension and died eventually.
Even his family members including myself ran away from the village because he was prepared to kill anybody. Before he was arrested in 2015, he had destroyed the roof of his father’s house when he visited the village.”
Also speaking on the exploits of Vampire, his stepmother, Francisca Chibueze, disclosed that he was too strong headed even as a child and did whatever he wanted regardless of what anybody said.
“Onyekachi was a very stubborn child; he was always fighting in the community and he was the only child in the family who had refused to go to school or to even learn a trade.
My late husband who was his father had done everything to ensure that he was useful to himself, but that failed. It was his criminal activities that led to his father developing high blood pressure that led to his death two years ago.
I had myself advised him severally to emulate his other brothers and sisters who are the pride of the family, while he was still younger before he became a big criminal and brought disgrace to the entire family and community.”Also expressing happiness at the demise of Vampire was the Chairman of the community, John Obilo, said that the death of the criminal was a great relief to the people of the community as he did not only bring the name of his family but that of the entire community to shame and disrepute.
“The eventual death of this boy who calls himself Vampire is a big relief to the community as everybody is happy because of the bad name and disgrace his criminal activities brought to the community.
Before the police killed him, whenever he came to the village, people of the community would flee because he could kill at the slightest provocation.
Henry had killed one of his best friends who was popularly known MC General and he had even killed his fellow pupil during a fight while he was just 12 years old.
I think that the boy must be possessed, because for him to have killed the number of people he had killed means that he was not a normal human being.
The entire community now has resolved that henceforth, any of its sons who is discovered to be delinquent would be dealt with immediately as the community does not want another Vampire who had destroyed the image of the community.We have also decided that any stranger who comes to the community will be monitored as well as who the stranger had come to see.”[/b]