Housewife Loses Eye After Terrible Fight With 79-year-old Mother-in-law
A 52-year-old housewife, Olasunkanmi Lawal, has lost the use
of one of her eyes after a scuffle with her mother-in-law, Aduke Awakan.
The mother of two was also said to have been attacked by her
sisters-in-law, Bose Showole (39) and Oduntan Enitan (24), at their family
house on Isale-Agbede Street, on the Lagos Island area of Lagos State.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the case was reported at the Adeniji
Adele Police Station, leading to the arrest of the suspects.
The victim explained that she was attacked because she
stopped giving money to the septuagenarian.
She said, “My husband and I live in the family house and we
have been there since 1989. We have two children.
“However, my mother-in-law started keeping malice with me
after I stopped giving her money. I lost my jewellery business due to the
demolition of my shop in 2014 and because of that; I could no longer support
her.
“On Saturday, January 16, around 4pm, I returned from work
and I met her at home. When I greeted her, she shunned me. I was surprised
because I never had any disagreement with her.
“Before I knew it, one of her children, Bose (Showole),
punched me in the left eye. I fought back. Her grandchild, Enitan, used stone
to hit me in the same eye, while the woman herself hit me with a chair. Blood
started coming out from the eye.”
She said she reported the assault at the Adeniji Adele Police
Station and from there, she was referred to the Lagos Island General Hospital,
where the doctors told her she had lost the use of her left eye.
A medical report from the hospital, signed by one J.O. Owuye,
said the victim was diagnosed with, “left periorbital swelling, abrusion at
anterior chest wall.”
It was learnt that the police arrested the 79-year-old, but
later released her on bail after the two other suspects, Showole and Enitan,
were produced by the family.
Lawal, however, accused the Investigating Police Officer, Ajekigbe
Sarah, of siding with the suspects against her.
She alleged that the IPO deliberately prevented her from
completing her statement at the station.
“She stopped me midway and said I should go to the hospital
for treatment.
“But when I returned to finish writing the statement, she
said it was no longer necessary. Even the DPO queried her for the action,” she
added.
Her father, Alhaji Ahmed Oshodi, called for justice.
But the septuagenarian suspect, Awakan, denied the
allegations.
In her statement to the police she said, “It was about 4pm. I
was at home when Alhaja (Lawal) came in and greeted me and I told her not to
greet me again.
“Alhaja is the wife of my son. I asked her not to greet me
because the previous day, she abused me indirectly and I decided not to reply
her greetings again.
“So, when she came in and greeted me, I shunned her, but one
of my daughters intervened.”
She said Lawal and her daughter had an argument which
degenerated into a fight.
“I don’t know how she got injured in the eye,” she added.
Showole, in her defence, said she intervened because Lawal,
who was her brother’s wife, was “abusing my mother and pointing a finger at
her”.
“I pushed her hand and she slapped me on the face.
“Then we started fighting. She held my clothes and I did the
same. I don’t know what happened to her eye,” she said.
Enitan denied involvement in the fight.
She said the fight was between Lawal and Showole.
The police, however, arraigned the trio before a Tinubu
Magistrate’s Court on three counts of assault occasioning harm.
The charges read in part, “That you, Aduke Awakan, Bose
Shobowale and Oduntan Eniola, on January 16, 2016, did unlawfully assault one
Olasunkanmi Lawal, by giving her fist blows and injuring her with a crate of
eggs and stone that led to injury in her left eye.”
The police prosecutor, I. Okeke, said the offence was
punishable under sections 409, 171 and 170 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State,
Nigeria, 2011.
The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges and elected
summary trial.
The Magistrate, Mr. A.A. Adefulire, admitted them to bail in
the sum of N20,000 with two sureties in like sum.
The case was adjourned till March 24, 2016.
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