…Accuses her of appearing in dream, threatening to snatch her husband
From Paul Oauyi, Asaba
A housewife in Delta State, Mrs. Stella Ifeoma Agbo has allegedly written her name in the book of infamy by carrying out an incredible attack on a 19-year-old girl, Judith Johnpaul, Okpanam community in Oshimili North Local Government Area of the state.
The horrific attack by the 31-year old housewife and native of Enugu State on Johnpaul left the once pretty girl disfigured and in agony at the orthopedic ward of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Asaba, Delta State, where doctors are battling to rebuild the flesh on her.
At the headquarters of the Delta State Police Command, where she is being held as investigation progresses, Agbo told investigators the victim and members of her family were a constant threat to her marriage, as she claimed that they were appearing in her dreams and threatening to kill her so as to snatch her husband.
Incidentally, Sunday Sun learnt, the acid attack made it the second time that the teenage girl, who passed her West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination in flying colours two years ago, would allegedly incur Agbo’s wrath.
Sunday Sun gathered that Agbo allegedly attacked Johnpaul in April 2016 with a knife at the same spot where the suspect poured acid on her in June this year. She survived that first attack. But following the latest attack, her charming face is no more as it has been disfigured because of the severe acid burns. Her entire body was affected.
With great effort, Johnpaul who struggled to recount her ordeal in the hands of her assailant, said the suspect was a former neighbour, and that due to the constant trouble she was causing her family, they relocated to another apartment.
Rather than have peace in the new abode, Agbo is alleged to have traced them to the new place, and kept harassing the family, who are of the Isoko natives of Ibrede in Ndokwa East Local Government Area of Delta State.
Her words: “She was our neighbour two years ago when we were in the same compound but due to the troubles she was giving the family, we relocated, and she also relocated. But along the line, where we moved to, she normally comes to disturb us and cause trouble.
“My father asked us to ignore her. He went to her husband to plead with him to prevail on her so that she could let us have peace. But the woman said she was seeing us in her dream and that we were chasing her.
“She always come to the place where I am learning a trade in fashion design to disturb me and the people around wanted to beat her up but I intervened and told them that my father asked us to ignore her.
“On June 4 when I was going to church in the morning, I saw her at the corner of a building. I passed her and ignored her. But on getting to the church premises, she appeared again and poured some liquid on me.
“I did not know it was acid until my body started reacting to it, and my face started swelling. I was shouting and ran to a nearby place but there was no one around until I ran into the church where the church members helped me and brought me to the hospital.”
Mother of the victim, Mrs. Patricia Johnpaul told Sunday Sun that despite ignoring the suspect, she did not give up as she continued to torment her family, ensuring that the family members including the father knew no peace.
“She told us that she saw us in her dream, and that when she was pregnant, I ate the fetus. We have not had peace since then. And when the trouble became unbearable, my husband said we should pack out to another apartment.
“But she traced us to the new apartment and was always laying ambush for us on the way. But my husband urged us to keep avoiding her for more than two years.
“It got to an extent that she stabbed this same girl last year April at the same spot where she poured acid on her this year. We thought it was an issue of boyfriend as at last year but we were wrong.
“She accused us of appearing in her dream to kill her and replace her with my daughter as the husband’s new wife. She has been attacking all of us because I saw her on the Saturday before the incident and she was holding the same bucket of acid. Who knows, it could have been anybody in my family,” the mother of five said.
The victim’s mother appealed to good spirited individuals, corporate organisations and the state government to come to the aid of the family in footing an anticipated huge hospital bill, saying that she was just a housewife and that her husband is a Vehicle Inspection Officer in the state.
“We have been in the hospital for close to a month, the family of the suspect has not visited let alone contribute a penny to the treatment. The only day her husband came was when the police were around to take my daughter’s statement. So, we are appealing to everybody to assist us,” she added.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Zanna Ibrahim, who confirmed the incident and said that a small empty custard cup and pieces of acid-burnt clothes were recovered at the scene of crime on the day of the incident.
Meanwhile, the Police Public Relations Officer of the command, Deputy Superintendent of Police Andrew Aniamaka, disclosed that the suspect was arraigned before a magistrate court in Asaba, where she pleaded not guilty and was remanded in prison custody.