An accidental meeting between 24-year-old hair stylist,
Miss Juliet Osimen from Esan West Local Government
Area, Edo State, and Austin, a native of Emu-Unoh, Ndokwa
West Area, Delta State, in Warri, glued them together.
Barely three years into the affair, Austin, shattered the
promising life of his lover with a cruel acid bath.
Today, after battling to survive with a year-long intensive
care at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, UBTH,
Benin, Edo State, Juliet still requires over N5 million lifeline
for a medical trip to Indian, as she struggles to pick up the
pieces of her devastated life.
People who commit acts of violence against others, this is
wrong. Full story below...
"Austin was very generous in the relationship and often
granted most of the requests I made. As a result, I hardly
hesitated when he started making proposals for marriage
and coming close to my family.
"When we met, he was living with his uncle at Nnewi Street,
off Aka Avenue, Effurun. As the relationship grew, we
rented a self-contained apartment at satellite Ugolo
community, Okpe Council area, where we shared privacy
occasionally, while I still lived with my parents.
'My fears'
"Though, I cherished his uncommon generosity towards me
and my siblings, I started getting worried about the source
of his income, which to me did not connect with the
generator repairs job he told me he does for a living.
"My suspicions were confirmed the day we went to
Obiaruku for the marriage of his friend. There is a
particular bag he does not allow me or anyone else touch at
all.
"This fateful day, as he was having an after wedding
drinking spree with friends in the hotel we lodged, I opened
the secret bag in our room.
"I was shocked by two items I found. An identity card as a
Federal Government Amnesty beneficiary and a document
list of guns and other dangerous weapons submitted by his
group during the arms mop up.
"From that moment, my interest in the affair died and I
wanted out immediately. I knew I was living with an
unrepentant criminal because he is easily irritated and
always bragging about how tough he is and how he can
deal with anyone and go away with it.
Conflict
According to Vanguard Juliet met Austin while working at a
fast food centre in the Niger Cat neighbourhood of Ekpan,
Delta State, where her father, Pastor Sunday Osimen,
farmer and Head at the Mountain of God's Grace Ministry
in the area, also owns a modest home.
Recalling the good times, Juliet said:
"That night at Obiaruku, I confronted him on his criminal
identity and why he kept it from me. He said he was worried
I would leave him and he does not want to lose me.
"That moment, I made it clear I was no longer interested
and would not marry a criminal disguising as repentant. I
meant every word of it.
"But I knew it was dangerous to make a sudden quit, so I
started limiting my contact with him and thinking of how
best to stop the affair permanently.
"Then, I further learned that the man I was planning to
marry is a father of three, married to a woman elsewhere.
"I confronted him. He admitted and again said he kept that
from me for fear of losing me. He said he could not do
without me, so he wants me as second wife. I said over my
dead body.
… and the threats began
"As I gradually limited my contact with him, he introduced a
catch phrase whenever the issue of breaking the
relationship came up.
"He would say, 'You can't leave me. If you try it, I will so
damage you that no man would want to look at you, so I
will still be the only one to marry you.'
"I could tell from his anger and tone, whenever he says it,
that this was no empty threat, but I needed to get out of the
affair.
"I trained as a hair stylist and work for a salon owner, while
also doing home service for some clients on Sundays.
"One Sunday, I was home fixing a customer's hair when my
phone rang. It was Austin's call so I ignored it.
"Usually, he is very jealous and gets upset if he does not
know my whereabouts and cannot get me on the phone for
a second and he can beat me for that.
Pulling a knife; the acid bath
"At night at Ugolo that day, he pulled a knife from the
kitchen, threatening to kill me, saying he saw a man taking
me out the period I failed to pick his call.
"I was afraid he could harm me so I refused confrontation
with him before he dropped the knife. Next morning, he
came to my work place apologizing for his action after
complaining to my madam.
"The evening of the Monday (February 25, 2013) preceding
the Sunday he threatened me with a knife at Ugolo, I
refused his calls again after closing from work and went to
my parents' home.
"He then called my younger sister, asking if my parents
were home. That was about midnight. It was very hot that
night. At some minutes to 1am, February 26, I had just my
towel tied on me when I slept close to the window.
"Suddenly, I heard and felt a shower of liquid from outside
through the window. The person aimed and poured it all
over my body as I lay faced up."Immediately, I started
shouting, 'Igwe (Austin) had poured acid on me' repeatedly
and ran out as the liquid was burning my body. I saw him
running away."
A father's story
Her father, Pastor Osimen, said he and the wife, Caroline,
were at their farmhouse at Orega, along Sapele Road,
where they farm most weekdays before retiring home to
the children and church service on Sunday, when he got a
distressing message.
He said: "I was contacted after she had been rushed to the
Ekpan General Hospital. I returned from the farming
expedition and lodged complaint at the Ekpan Police
Division.
"We could not focus on the police case because saving my
daughter's life first was uppermost.
"From Ekpan General Hospital, she was referred to the
Oghara Teaching Hospital, Oghara in Delta State. From
there, she was referred to the University of Benin Teaching
Hospital, UBTH, in Benin, Edo State.She was under
intensive care at UBTH for almost a year with the medical
bill rising to N2 million, way beyond my purse. But by some
divine intervention, some persons from the Edo State
government, I guess, came and settled the huge bill before
she was discharged."
Arrested
Pastor Osimen asserted, "back to Delta at the close of
2014, we opened the case to prosecute Austin at the Warri
Area Command.
"After two years in hiding, within which even his uncle at
Aka Avenue also relocated to unknown location, the police
caught him, last month."
It was learned that a source who knew him, noticed that he
was in custody at the Ekpan Police Station, having been
arrested and brought from Lagos in connection with a
kidnap case.
According to Juliet's father, "when I met him at Ekpan
Police Station, I said to him, 'Igwe is this you?' he replied,
'Daddy, I beg.'
"I said, 'you are begging to go free after deliberately
maiming my daughter?'"
N5m lifeline to save a soul
Austin's trial was supposed to start, Thursday, January 29,
at an Effurun court in the state.
At press time, the suspect was on remand at the Warri
prisons.
Juliet's doctor said at least N5 million was required for
further treatment abroad to further manage the dreadful
scars of the acid burns, especially her face and the chest
region, as well as the health challenges the attack still
posed to her.
Juliet said:
"It is hard to explain how bad and demoralized I feel over
this condition I have found myself."I am, however, very
grateful to God and those who have assisted me. But I
need to be able to fulfill my dreams in life. I was to sit for
JAMB before the attack."I still want to get higher
education; I still want to be useful to myself. Now I can
hardly do anything meaningful."
Joined by his wife, Pastor Osimen said:
"We are appealing to the public to please help us and our
daughter with donations to go to India for her surgery.
"May God help you as you send your donations to Osimen
Sunday, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, account number,
3054669825." CLICK HERE TO READ FULL AND TOUCHING NIGERIAN CELEBRITIES BIOGRAPHY AND SCANDALS
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