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•How Taraba housewife mutilated 17-year-old girl’s face with razor blade
From Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
A middle-aged housewife in Taraba State, Ramati Abbas, has landed herself in a dirty mess following her violent mistreatment of a 17-year-old girl, Iwasen Terhemba. She has been charged with attacking the lady with a razor blade for allegedly befriending her husband.
Already, the Ministry of Women Affairs and Child Development has officially received the report of the violent attack and forwarded the case to the police. Magistrate Court, Donga, acting on the report made by the police, remanded the accused at the Wukari Correctional Centre, pending further investigation and prosecution proper.
According to court documents sighted by Daily Sun, the accused was charged with using a razor blade to attack Terhemba, inflicting multiple injuries that could lead to a permanent disfigurement of her face.
That is not all the bad news for the troubled lady. Her husband, acting on the strength of the violent attack, parted ways with her, accusing her of shaming the family, bringing his name to disrepute and displaying a violent and unacceptable conduct.
Trouble allegedly started when Abbas, who lives in the same neighbourhood with the victim, was reported to have made amorous advances to Terhemba, who promptly alerted her aunt and guardian.
Words got to the wife about the fledging relationship and “without a proper fact-check,” the housewife resorted to take the law into her arms.
The victim’s aunt, Mrs Jemila Savalla Wanga, told Daily Sun: “When my daughter, Iwasen, told me that Mr Abbas had been harassing her, telling that he wants to go out with her, I felt very bad about it.
“First of all, he is already a married man and Iwasen is just a teenager. She is clearly under-aged and a fully-grown man like Abbas should not be looking at her with lust in his heart.
“Iwasen has been a very good girl. She is nothing like these wayward children you see around. She has already suffered too much for a child of her age. Losing both parents and several family members to herdsmen’s attack is not a burden for a child of her age.
“When I learnt of what was happening, I was distressed and I decided to warn him (Abbas) to stay off my daughter, thinking that it would end the whole mess. But it didn’t.
“His wife got wind that her husband had been coming to see Iwasen and started to insult her. And at this point, I picked up courage and took Iwasen to her.
“I told her that it was the other way round. That it was her husband that was molesting the little girl. That the truth is not what she was made to believe.
“Instead of taking it up with her husband, which is what is expected of her to do, she decided to come visiting my house while I was away, attack and this is what it ended to be. She mutilated Iwasen’s face with a razor blade, with intention to eternally tarnished her beauty.”
At the Government General Hospital, Donga, where the victim is receiving treatment, Iwasen had recovered remarkably well. She told Daily Sun that Ramati is a distant neighbour: “We do buy provisions and other household products from their shop.
“On the day of the incident, I went to their place to buy groceries, but she wasn’t home. Her husband attended to me, but there was an issue with outstanding change. As he asked if I would come back later, he grabbed my hands and tried to drag me inside.
“I struggled and escaped, then reported the incident to my aunt when she returned home. She confronted him with my allegation and he admitted and apologised, saying it was all a mistake.
“The next day, I was home when Ramati Abbas stormed into our house, charged and armed with a blade. I pushed her hand and it fell but she eventually overpowered me, sat on me, and used the razor blade to slash my face.
“My aunt was not at home, but the people around did not help me even when I was crying in pains. When she was done slashing my face and I was in blood and pains, he warned me to stay away from her husband, threatening to kill me the next time.
“My aunt returned home and found me bleeding and rushed me to the hospital and later reported to the police. I did not do anything to her. I have never disrespected her and I don’t have anything to do with her husband. He even tried to rape me.” Governor Agbu Kefas, has ordered security agencies to immediately arrest individuals allegedly threatening and intimidating the victim’s guardian in the area. He warned that anyone found interfering with the judicial process or intimidating the victim’s family would be arrested and prosecuted.
Commissioner for Women Affairs and Child Development, Mary Sinjen, said: “Governor Kefas has directed that no effort be spared in securing justice for the victim and in strengthening protective measures for vulnerable persons across the state. Those intimidating the victim and her guardian should be arrested and made to face the law.”
