Eighteen-year-old Boluwatife Ajadi had been looking
forward to enjoying the New Year festivity with her
family in peace and happiness, but she spent it in
agony on a hospital bed, hanging on to life.
Boluwatife, who finished secondary school in
September 2014, fell victim of a vicious attack by a
scorned suitor, a young man who had been seeking her
hand in a romantic friendship, around 11pm on
December 30, 2014.
But the culprit, 21-year-old Sakiru Buari, insisted that
Boluwatife was his girlfriend.
When our correspondent visited Samas Hospital, a
private health facility in Baruwa area of Lagos, there
was no way of speaking with Boluwatife. She had been
unable to speak since the attack, her family said. The
girl had been induced to sleep by the hospital staff.
Her elder sister, Adeola, who narrated what happened,
said she had feared that her sister might not survive
the attack which left a long and deep gash on her neck.
A picture of the fresh wound showed part of the girl’s
neck, flesh that is almost the size of a palm, hanging
loose.
“The man used a razor to cut her neck,” Adeola began.
“There was no doubt that he actually wanted to kill her.
It all started about 11pm when we were hearing a noise
outside our house on Alhaja Wasilat Street, Baruwa.
Someone was shouting ‘thief, thief’ and we all rushed
outside but I did not realise my sister was not inside
with us.
“When I went outside, I saw someone staggering
towards us holding her neck. She was struggling to call
for help. By the time I realised it was my sister, she
collapsed on the ground.”
Saturday PUNCH learnt that soon after the attack,
neighbours who had heard Boluwatife’s initial alert for
help, were able to catch Buari who had attempted to
flee at the time.
“When they caught him, the man was even saying that
he regretted that she did not die. All I could do was
scream for help as I went to where my sister collapsed.
“At that time of the night, nobody was willing to help us.
No vehicle stopped for us to take her to the hospital. At
a point, I had to go to the middle of the road pleading
for help.
A doctor holds Boluwatife’s flesh in place
to stop bleeding during treatment at a
hospital
“Eventually, a young man at the scene picked her up
from the ground and carried her towards the nearest
hospital with
the help of other eyewitnesses.”
By the time Boluwatife got to the hospital, she had lost
so much blood that her soaked clothes were dripping
blood, it was learnt.
Banging on the door of the hospital with screams, those
who carried Boluwatife were admitted into the
compound as the doctor on duty went to work on the
barely conscious girl.
Adeola, said she had never seen the man who attacked
her sister before that day and was sure he was not her
sister’s boyfriend.
“The man must not escape justice,” she said. Their
father, Gabriel, said he was not at home at the time of
the attack but could not imagine what could have
pushed the man to want to kill her daughter.
He said, “I even thought she was dead when I was
called to the scene and saw the amount of blood on the
ground.
“The place looked like a slab where an animal had been
slaughtered. We are lucky that residents of our street
called the beast who did this to my daughter.
“He said it to my face that he had no regret for what he
did and was even angry that she survived the attack. At
least, we are happy that he had confessed to the attack
and we cannot wait to see him off to jail.”
The police at the Ipaja Division, Baruwa, have taken
Buari into custody with promises that the suspect would
be prosecuted appropriately since he had confessed to
the crime.
The Divisional Police Officer, Mr. Ajewole Adebayo, a
Chief Superintendent of Police, said Buari would be
transferred to the Department of Criminal
investigations, Yaba, Lagos, as soon as his men had
finished their part of the investigations.
When our correspondent and child and woman rights
activist, Esther Ogwu, visited the police division, Buari,
who was still wearing the clothes soiled with
bloodstains, had caked blood on his hands.
“I don’t know what came over me at the time,” he said.
The young man who said he was from Abeokuta, Ogun
State, explained that he dropped out of school in senior
secondary year one.
“She is my girlfriend and I don’t have any reason to kill
her. We did not fight. I just don’t know the spirit that
came over me at the time I brought out a razor and
slashed her neck. I know now that what I did was
terrible,” he said, as he looked away with.
Buari said both his parents were dead and that the only
known relation he had was in Abeokuta.
He said he works as a barber even though he did not
have a shop of his own.
Ogwu, who has taken over the girl’s case, said that the
most important evidence of the case would be the
explanation of the victim herself.
“Unfortunately, she is not in any condition to speak at
this time. But like every case of assault involving
women, we would ensure that the girl gets justice in
this case,” she said.
Source: The Punch
0 comments:
Post a Comment