after she was reportedly stabbed several times by her neighbour (names
withheld) in the Mushin area of Lagos.
Soon after the knife attack, Mrs Chinaka was rushed to the Lagos
University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, but she lost her seven
months pregnancy.
The woman’s agony began after she caught the neighbour red-handed
stealing money from her purse and, not wanting her
to expose him, the suspect was said to have stabbed Mrs. Chinaka with a
kitchen knife on her stomach, arm and neck and left her to bleed
to death.
The mother of two could have died but for the timely intervention of
neighbours who went looking for her and called for help after they saw
her lying in her room in a pool of blood.
While neighbours were at a loss about what happened to her, the
assailant went about as if nothing happened until he was found out by
his elder brother and he confessed to stabbing Mrs. Chinaka.
The woman, who spoke to Vanguard on her hospital bed, narrated her experience:
“I was at home that day when my children came to me in the kitchen where
I was cooking to say electricity had been restored, and that I should
come to the living room to play a cartoon video, called Power Ranger,
for them. I left what I was doing and went to operate the television
for them. But to my astonishment, I saw the neighbour in my room. He was going through my purse to steal money. I caught him red handed. He was shocked. I said, ‘So, you are the one stealing all the money that has been missing in this compound’.
“I was shocked because I trusted him and we had never quarrelled before.
I usually left my children with him and he entered my house the way
he liked, but for him to be stealing was shocking to me. As I was still
talking to him, he ran out of the room and before I knew what was
happening, he came back with a kitchen knife and told me that he will
stab me with it. I thought he was joking but to my shock, he moved close
and, as I attempted to escape, he held me and started stabbing me with
the knife. He stabbed me until I lost consciousness. I did not know what
happened next. I only found myself in hospital and, after surgery, I
was revived. My husband told me that I was stabbed and would have died
but for God’s mercy. I could not feel my baby anymore. I was seven
months pregnant but my baby was not kicking”.
Mr. Henry, Mrs Chinaka’s brother- in-law, explained the trouble the family went through to get medical help for her.
“When we heard that she was stabbed, the family rallied round and rushed
her to LUTH. Doctors told us that she had to use the only ICU machine
but a lot of people were on queue to use it. We
ran helter skelter to look for money to deposit for her treatment. We
had to deposit N500,000 and we have spent more than a million naira on
her treatment but nobody knew who stabbed her and she was on life
support machine for months. Unknown to us, the assailant’s elder
brother had reported him to the police at the Olosan Police Station and
the police had charged him to court for attempted murder without
carrying out thorough investigation nor did they visit the woman in
the hospital,” Henry said.
“We have been prevailing on the police to include the case of murder in
the charge against the assailant because the woman lost her seven
months old pregnancy due to the stabbing. The baby is in the mortuary
but the DPO of the Olosan Police Station and the IPO are not ready to
cooperate with us as they went on to charge the boy to court without
hearing from the family of the victim. We are appealing to the police to
revisit the case and amend the charge to include murder. We want
justice to be done.”
A human rights activist, Mr. Ishola Agbodemu, urged the police to get
justice for the victim, especially in the light of the lost pregnancy.
He said, “If she had not been stabbed and made to go through such a
terrible experience, she would have given birth to a child by now. The
child’s murder should not be overlooked by the Police.”
But in a statement to police, the stupid guy said he was pushed by an evil spirit to stab Mrs Chinaka.
“I went to her house to steal money. She caught me but a spirit told me
to stab her, so I went to the kitchen and took the knife and stabbed her
with it. I stabbed her because I did not want her to reveal to other
neighbours that I am a thief. I fled the house when I saw blood gushing
out.
“It was my brother who exposed me. He saw a cut wound on my hand and he
questioned me where I got it. I had to confess to him that I used knife
to stab Mrs Chinaka. My elder brother took me to the Olosan police
station and I was arrested”.