‘How jealous neighbour attacked me with razor’

At about 8.30am that fateful day, I heard a knock on my door. When I asked the person to come in, she refused. After a while, I peeped and noticed she was hiding by my neighbour’s window.  So I asked, “Why are you hiding?” Then she came in, greeted me and said she wanted to […]

At about 8.30am that fateful day, I heard a knock on my door. When I asked the person to come in, she refused. After a while, I peeped and noticed she was hiding by my neighbour’s window.  So I asked, “Why are you hiding?” Then she came in, greeted me and said she wanted to discuss something with me. I invited her in and asked her to sit down and discuss what she wanted. But she refused, saying she wouldn’t be comfortable and suggested we go out to talk. After she politely pleaded with me, I succumbed. On getting outside, she said my neighbour, Mama Ego, had asked her to call me.

“As we reached Mama Ego’s house, I met her seated with her family watching television. Mama Ego invited me in and asked me to sit down. Linda remained standing by the door as I sat down. In the split of a second, she started demonstrating some aggressiveness and said, “Helen, I heard you are going out with my husband. People have told me over and over about it.”

“So I asked who the people were so I could confront them in her presence. Before I knew what was happening, she had brought out two razor blades with which she started tearing my body. In a bid to save myself as blood was gushing from the very deep cuts of the blades, I ran into the bathroom, but Linda chased and eventually caught up with me and began stabbing me with an object I really can’t identify as the pains and cuts were even more severe than the first.

“In all that time, all I heard from Mama Ego’s end who had supposedly sent for me was her husband asking Linda to stop and why she was behaving in that manner.

When asked if any of them made a move to stop Linda from further inflicting more injuries on me, she said, “No. Not a single one of them made any move to stop her. My screams and cries were what alerted other neighbours to come to my rescue. Unfortunately, when they tried to get in, they found the door locked. In between trying to break it open and my intense screaming, Linda continued stabbing me all over. She eventually stopped when the door was forced open and the boys managed to get her off my back, but not before one of them, Ephraim, sustained an injury on his arm.”

“In my confusion and pain, I started running. Then I thought to run to my house to alert my friend about what had happened so that she could take me to the hospital. During all that time, people saw me and started shouting because of the sight of me and the way blood was gushing out from different parts of my body.

“They took me to a nurse for treatment, but she refused to touch me except I came with a police report or a policeman who could stand as a surety for me. We went to a police station from where one of the officers went with me and asked her to treat me. But the injuries were too severe for her and I had to be refereed to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital. Before touching me, they were demanding a deposit of N30, 000 which I didn’t have.

“We were then directed to a General Hospital where throughout the night, the wounds were stitched and treatment was administered on me. Helen tried to escape, but luckily, the police in Chika got hold of her and took her into custody. But they couldn’t keep her for long because of the angry crowd waiting outside to lynch her. They got in touch with the Lugbe Police Station where mobile policemen came in a truck to take her away.

Halen added: “The following day, which was a Thursday, she was summoned to court where questions were posed to her. The evidences were glaring; so even when she was going to deny as she saw the look on people’s faces, she thought better of it. She couldn’t get any bail because she said she didn’t have anybody to bail her. Not even her husband whom she was going to kill me for went to her rescue. He hasn’t shown up since the disaster struck not even for the sake of their toddler.”

Weekly Trust paid a visit to Mama Ego who denied that she ever sent Linda to call Helen. When asked why neither her nor her husband made any move to stop Linda’s action, she said, “We tried, but Linda didn’t stop.” Somehow, there seems to have been some sort of conspiracy between Linda and Mama Ego, because she also denied that the door was locked even though there were evidences of forceful entry.

Ephraim, who came to Helen’s rescue, confirmed the fact that they had to force the door open to gain access into the house.

Our reporter asked Helen what her relationship with Mr. Uche was. “I only know him as a person. I cannot tell you what part of town he lives in let alone what colour his gate is. He made advances at me through one of my friends and I told him in public that I am not interested in having a relationship with him. So I was very surprised by his wife’s accusations.”

The Lugbe Police Division, which initially was responsible for the case, could not comment it due to the fact that the case is already in court and the culprit still undergoing trial.