Nkiruka Ugwu,14,least expected the fate that befell her Wednesday, as her family members left for their respective places of work. Alone in the duplex situated on 5, Nwaezeonu Shalom estate in Satelite area of Lagos, the Junior Secondary School student who only came home to spend the third term holiday , went about the house chores,unaware that danger lurked at the corner.
Then all of a sudden, an incident which left every member of her family shocked and speechless, with the police at Satellite division still trying to unravel, occurred.
As you read this piece, the teenager is lying unconscious at the Intensive Care Unit of an undisclosed private hospital around the area , with doctors trying all they could to resuscitate her.
When Crime Guard visited the hospital, the teenager was discovered to have multiple bruises on her face with blood shot eyes. Her face was swollen beyond description with blood dripping from her nose and mouth. The question on every one’s lips was , what could have happened to Nkiru as she is popularly called? Could she have been attacked or raped? If yes, what was her offense?.
*The victim in the hospital
*The victim in hospital
Her elder brother simply identified as Innocent , disclosed how she was found in the pool of her blood.
“ We are all traders except my elder brother’s wife who is serving her National Youth Service Corps at Amuwo Odofin Local Government secretariat.
We all left the house early Wednesday and by evening when my brother’s wife returned from work, Nkiruka,whom we all left in the house was nowhere to be found. She dialed her number but discovered it was switched off. She called her and at the same time opened all the bedroom doors but there was no response from her.
Along the line , she discovered that one of the bedrooms was locked. She decided to open it witha spare key only to find Nkiru lying still on the ground. She screamed, thereby alerting residents who rushed her to the hospital. She was rushed to three different hospitals where unfortunately, they rejected her, until she was taken to where she currently is.
When we conducted a search round the duplex, we discovered that all the laptops, phones and jewelries were missing, including Nkiru’s mobile phone. This made us conclude that she could have recognised the intruder .Perhaps that was why he attempted to strangle her to avoid being exposed. But for the prompt arrival of my brother’s wife, she could have given up before our arrival because we usually come home late”, Innocent stated .
Victim suffering from head injury
Meanwhile, the Managing Director at the hospital disclosed that the victim was suffering from head injury and assault.
According to him, “The patient was brought in last night (Wednesday night) unconscious. We want to believe that there are foul play some where because she has multiple brushes on her face, blood shot eyes, swollen face and protruding thigh. She is also bleeding from the eyes nose and mouth.
She is semi conscious and restless. We think it is a case of head injury and assault. We have been trying to stabilize her with oxygen which has taken over her system and we have administered a broad range of drugs to reduce the swell in the brain. It’s a very bad case but we are giving her all the care she deserves. A nurse is permanently stationed in her ward to care for her,” the doctor stated”.
However,the Police have vowed to unravel the circumstances surrounding the incident. But Crime Guard learnt that investigation was hampered by the unconscious state of the teenager who is believed to be in the best position to reveal the identity of her assailant.
Police sources however assured that: “ we will get to the root of this matter. Even though the only person that would have given us clue on how to go about it is incapacitated, we have switched to plan ‘ B’.I I assure you that in no distant time from now, we will get the assailant”.
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