It was gathered that Deann’s husband, Sylvester Nmezi, stabbed her in the eye during a minor squabble at home. If you think that the act was a mistake, you are wrong. After stabbing his wife in the eye, the man locked the doors against her and left her to bleed to death.
For Deann, this is like a dream. She married Sylvester barely a year ago and hoped to have a good marriage. Their affairs had started when she was a student at the University of Port Harcourt. Their love affair blossomed and they agreed to get married.
However, Deann’s parents, siblings and relatives objected to her marrying Sylvester. Along the line, she got pregnant for Sylvester and her family didn’t have any choice but to grant her wish. She moved in to live with Sylvester. Last year, she gave birth to a baby boy.
It was gathered that Deann is Sylvester’s third wife. First, the man married about five years ago and the marriage crashed after producing a child. He married again but his second wife did not give him a child before they parted ways. He then married Deann.
The fight
Sylvester returned home after being away for two weeks. A quarrel had ensued between him and the wife, in the evening. To Deann, the matter was settled, but her husband did not want to let go.
It was gathered that in the dead of the night, Sylvester woke his wife from sleep and demanded that they talked. His wife told him that whatever discussion there was had to wait till the morning, to avoid waking the baby, who had cough and catarrh. In a fit of anger, Sylvester stabbed her twice in the eye, locked the door and escaped.
Since their home on Ada George Road, a developing part of Port Harcourt, is isolated, neighbours could not hear Deann’s cries. Writhing in pains and on the verge of bleeding to death, she managed to call her siblings in Lagos, on phone. She also called her parents and Sylvester’s parents, who also live in Lagos. She also, in pains, captured her bleeding face with her Blackberry phone camera and sent them to those she called. Her family contacted their friends in Port Harcourt, Mr & Mrs. Castro, who broke the door and took her out. She was then taken to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) for medical attention.
Nero Igho, Deann’s brother, who was in Lagos when he got this distress call, told Saturday Sun that he called Sylvester severally but he refused to pick his call. He had to fly to Port Harcourt the next day.
After initial treatment, Nero took his sister to police area command, where the matter was reported. She was, thereafter, transferred to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, where by a team of three doctors confirmed that the eye was dead, after surgery.
On his experience, Deann said: “Sylvester used a knife to remove one of my eyes and locked the door against me so that I will bleed to death.”
How Sylvester was arrested
Saturday Sun gathered that after the attack, Sylvester moved over to Lagos and was lodging in a hotel. While in Lagos, he told those who called him on phone that he was in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. The bubble bust when someone sported him and told Deann’s family. Nero traced him to the hotel and fooled him into believing that there was no problem, as they saw the matter as his trying time with his wife. He followed them home, where the police picked him up. The police said he would be transferred to Port Harcourt, where the crime was committed.
Sylvester’s plot to flee Nigeria
It was learnt that Sylvester actually planned to flee Nigeria, which was why he came to Lagos. He had made arrangements for an International passport, which he was waiting for before he was nabbed.
While cooling off at Lagos Police Command cell, Sylvester blamed Satan for his action. He denied stabbing his wife. According to him, the ceiling fan cut her wife’s eye.
Quest for justice
Deann’s family wants Sylvester to pay for his deeds. Nero is working with a non-governmental organisation, Crime Victim Foundation, to get justice for his sister.
Source: Sun News Online
