Condition of stabbed student worsens, admitted at UNTH

                                                  


Miss Goodness Moses, a victim of violence against women, has finally found her way back to the hospital, this time, the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu State.

And the news about the medical report is anything but cheering. Consequently, doctors at the UNTH have advised her to go back to the Eye Foundation, Ikeja, Lagos, where her eyes were earlier operated on, after a Lagos-based businessman, Nwzie Uzoma, allegedly stabbed the eyes and hit her jaws with an object.



One thing that seems to have compounded the case of the 26 years old girl, is the alleged uncooperative attitude of her attacker. For instance, on July 15, 2011, Uzoma’s lawyer and that of Goodness’ family agreed to settle the matter out of court. And one of the conditions given to him, as the stage was set for amicable settlement, was for the businessman to pay any medical bill that may be incurred in future by the victim, since she is still undergoing treatment.

“One of the conditions was that he would first, treat me before we settle out of court. The agreement was that he should be giving me the sum of N10,000, any time I have an appointment with the doctors. This covers the medical bills and transportation. Alternatively, he was told to be accompanying me to the hospital each time I was going to see the doctors. But I have been going to the hospital alone, even without him paying the medical bills. What I have been able to receive from his lawyer is N10,000. When I called him on phone to complain about the breach of the agreement, he abused and told me to meet my father,” the embattled lady said.

The victim, who is a student of Institute of Management Technology(IMT), Enugu, came to Lagos for her Industrial Training (IT), after completing the Ordinary National Diploma (OND), before the incident occurred. She narrated how she went back to IMT for clearance, to enable her collect her result, only to find herself at the UNTH. The school management had earlier questioned her inability to complete he IT, and she narrated her ordeal. Still in doubt, the school asked her to show medcal report to that effect. Daily Sun gathered that she quickly came to Lagos to take the important documents. But when she got back to the school, crisis started.

She said: “Suddenly, my eyes became reddish, coupled with headache, tears and I lost my sight temporarily. The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), gave me a letter to the UNTH. I went into crisis because, Uzoma refused to take care of the medical bills. I had been going to the hospital but not all the time, due to financial constraints,” she said. At the UNTH, the doctors treated before referring her back to the Eye Foundation. According to her, one of the eyes can no longer see. “I’m making use of only one eye. I no longer see with the left eye,”she said.

Goodness’ father, Moses Onyike, who also spoke to Daily Sun said instead of abiding by the agreement reached with Uzoma’s lawyer and his family, he (Uzoma) reported the matter to Igbo community in Ipaye, Iba Town, Ojo, for mediation. But he failed to come the day both parties were invited by the community as wel as any time they scheduled to go to the hospital.

“Even when the Igbo community he took the matter to invited both of us, he refused to show up. The case was supposed to come up in court on September 29, but it didn’t. And the next thing Uzoma did was to turn round and accused me of conniving with the Igbo community to request the sum of N5 million from him.” The embittered man, who disclosed that he had spent over N100,000, in the last few months, to ensure that his daughter doesn’t go blind, wondered why Uzoma refused to treat his daughter, or make the settlement out of court, as canvassed by him, through his lawyer a reality.

Daily Sun first reported the case of Goodness in its Thursday, May 19, 2011 edition The Newspaper had reported how Goodness was trekking to Ipaye bus stop on Sunday March 13, 2011, along side one of her sisters, before she had a brush with Uzoma. According to her, Uzoma, who was driving in his car, almost ran over her, were it not that she dashed into the bush and fell flat.

But Uzoma, who claimed Goodness called him a devil, after she narrowly escaped being crushed, allegedly hopped out from his vehicle, fuming with rage and used an object to hit her jaws. “He resumed the attack on me the following day he came to our house and even extended it to my father. That was the day he stabbed me in one of my eyes.

And My eyes went blank. Because of the hitting and stabbing, I started vomiting blood and was quickly rushed to the El-Shaddai Hospital, Iba Town. But the doctors referred me to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Goodness once told Daily Sun.
By CHRIS ANUCHA
SUNNEWS