Nigeria: Bloodthirsty crowd brutally beats up boy thief, burns him to death

Lagos: A boy in the Badagry district of the city of Lagos in Nigeria was savagely beaten by a mob and burnt to death for being a thief.

According to a report in The Mirror, the boy was set upon by the mob after being accused of repeatedly robbing local residents and businesses, and even threatening to kill people.

The footage of the incident shows the boy with a bloodied face holding his hands up as the mob surrounds him as he sits on the ground with his legs tied together.

He is beaten over and over again as he begs for his life, and then a tyre is placed around his neck. The tyre, upon which a flammable liquid has been poured, is then set on fire.

The boy manages to throw off the tyre, but the unmerciful crowd then proceeds to set him alight anyway.

The boy burned to death even as some people called out for him to be handed over to the police instead of being killed.

The video of the incident was shared on social media, where users speculated about the boy’s age. Some people claimed he was as young as seven years old.

The boy had allegedly been caught in a supermarket trying to steal food, which he had been caught doing before on more than one occasion, as well as robbing locals.