An 11-year-old apprentice identified as Sunday has been beaten to death by his boss for allegedly stealing N1,000 in the Ogba area of Lagos State.

The PUNCH reported that the suspect, Uchechukwu, aka Alloy Omo Jesu, has taken to his heels, leaving Sunday’s lifeless body in the hands of his fellow apprentices who reside with him.

According to reports, Sunday was suspected of theft when the manager of Uchechukwu’s gas business, Blessing, discovered that the sum of N1,000 was missing at the close of sales on Saturday, January 8, 2022.

Uchechukwu and his other apprentices were said to have suspected Sunday after he gave an unsatisfactory response when questioned by the manager.

Another apprentice, Godwin narrated the incident thus: “When Blessing asked him how N1,000 went missing, he said the money was with a customer who did not complete payment for refilling gas.

“Blessing told me to follow him to meet the customer to collect the money, but when we got there, the customer said the complete money was paid.

“The customer later said the money he owed us was for another item he bought in the shop. But Sunday never told us he sold the item to the customer on that Saturday.

“On Sunday, January 9, our boss got to know about what happened and when Sunday gave no reasonable explanation, he told me to take him home.”

According to Godwin, Uchechukwu began touring Sunday with a wire when he got home around 10 pm.

Subsequently, Godwin and another apprentice, Stanley, left for the backyard when their colleague’s plea for mercy was ignored.

“While at the backyard, we heard Sunday screaming for help, but our boss continued to beat him and didn’t stop till he (the boss) stepped out to meet us at the backyard around 1 am.

“When we didn’t hear Sunday’s voice again, we thought he already had his bath and slept. We even saw him lying motionless on the floor and thought he had slept, but there was blood on his body.

“Our boss later told us to pack about N1m he had at home and said he wanted us to quickly go to the shop to keep it. Three of us, except Sunday, left the house around 1 am for the shop. But when we got there, our boss said he forgot the keys at home.”

Godwin said the suspect told Stanley to wait at the shop, while he (Godwin) followed him home to get the keys.

He noted that on their way, Uchechukwu confessed that Sunday needed urgent treatment.

“I thought the N1m was with Stanley as we returned home but on the way, he said we should be on our way to a hospital. So, we took his motorcycle and headed for the hospital.

“As we were about approaching the entrance to a street, he told me that the security guards might think we were armed robbers as the two of us were on the motorcycle. He told me to get down and walk to meet him at the front, but he sped off.

“Immediately, I knew something had happened to Sunday. I quickly went to meet Stanley and we went home and met Sunday’s corpse. We raised the alarm and reported to the Baale, who assisted in reporting to the police,” Godwin said.

Confirming the report, a chief in the area, who spoke on conditions of anonymity said that angry youths protesting Sunday’s death burgled Uchechukwu’s shop and carted away property.

“We have not seen him since then; he ran away that early morning and we don’t support anyone that has done something bad. We heard the matter was reported at the Pen Cinema Police Station and that he was declared wanted,” he added.

As of the time of filing this report, the state Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu, did not comment on the matter when contacted but vowed to get back with more details.