1. 1. Sunmola  Olowookere

A 15-year-old girl is currently battling for her life after she was hit with a mortar by an irate neighbour. The victim also sustained wound on her collarbone following the attack from the rabid woman.

The woman claimed that she got angry when she heard the girl along with her mother and her other siblings abusing her through their songs while they were observing their night devotion.

There had been a mild skirmish between them earlier in the evening over the one that would be the first to use the mortar and pestle that was commonly used in the kitchen. The landlady had settled the problem for them and the other tenants thought it was over.

However, when it was her turn to use the mortar, she was resentful that the landlady allowed the widow to use the mortar before her.

As she was pounding her fufu later in the evening, her neighbours were about to sleep and were observing their night devotion.

It was around 9 p.m. The kitchen was after the widow’s room. Therefore, the more she listened to them singing, the more convinced she was that they were mocking her.

She had gotten very angry and burst into their apartment while armed with the pestle in her hands. She began to hit the young girl with her pestle as she was the one leading the praise section. The mother who was a widow was shocked at the unwarranted intrusion and attack.

However, she came to her senses when her daughter who had been trying to fend off the attacks without much success screamed in agony when she was bitten.

The demented neighbour had sunken her teeth into the girl’s neck, close to her collarbone. The mother rushed at them and other tenants in the 10-room apartment rushed in to see what had caused the commotion.

They were able to disengage them. But the girl had become unconscious by then from the onslaught of the attack and the shock. The woman was still fuming while her husband was very apologetic for his wife’s behaviour.

The girl was rushed to a nearby health centre after she was revived. They gave her first aid and anti tetanus injection, then she was discharged. The neighbours and her church members rallied round her and gave her the support she needed.

Since the death of her husband, she had been the only one fending for their seven children. With the downturn of the economy, it had become a daunting task for her although she was very hard working.

They went back home and her pastor urged to let sleeping dogs lie and leave the matter to God.

However, the situation took a turn for the worse overnight as the young girl could not stand up by the next day and began to groan in pains. The body parts that had suffered assault from the woman’s pestle were all swollen and her head was almost twice their size.

The Neighbours were alarmed at the turn of events and they tried to prevail on the woman to assist the widow with hospital bills so that the girl could get better medical treatment but she was adamant.

They wondered at her refusal as she was well off compared to the widow. She gloated that the mother and her daughter got what was coming to them as they had been giving her problems for a long time.

They had to contribute money and they took the girl to a private hospital around the neighbourhood. The doctor who was alarmed at the extent of her injuries alerted the police and the woman was arrested and detained for assault occasioning harm.

By then, she got no sympathy from the neighbours as they had tried to prevail upon her to help out before the police waded in but she was adamant.

Part of the conditions for her release was that she would have to pay the medical expenses incurred at the hospital which was up to N30, 000.