Ismaila Ojo, a local hunter has admitted killing his neighbor because he mistook him for an animal at Ita-merin village, near Ore in Ondo State.
According to Sahara Reporter, it was learnt that the hunter shot dead his 70-year old neighbour, who was defecating in the bush at the back of the house. O jo claimed he was testing his gun.
Parading the suspect to newsmen in Akure, the recently deployed Ondo State Commissioner of Police, Oyeyemi Oyediran, said the hunter was arrested with his locally made gun.
While speaking with journalists, the suspect confessed to having shot the aged man around 3 am but insisted that he mistakenly took the victim for an animal in the night.
Ojo, who claimed to be a registered hunter, said he was the one who raised the alarm after he mistakenly shot the aged man and afterward took him to the near farm settlement for medical attention.
He said if he did it deliberately, he would not have raised an alarm for help.
The suspect who said the victim died a few days after the incident, pleaded for mercy, saying he could not have killed his neighbor for anything.
‘’I have never committed a crime in my life; everybody knows me as a hunter; I don’t know how animal turned into a human being. Have mercy on me,’’ he said.