Step Brother Cuts Off 3week Old Baby’s Hand in Akwa Ibom State

This particular unpleasant incident
happened inAkwa Ibom State, Nigeria. This
three months-old baby boy named,
Etimbuk, had his right hand cut off by his
step brother right after afight with the new
born’s mother .
The step brother, Mr. Nathaniel John, 30,
was brutally murdered by the youths of the
community following the atrocity.
Read the detail news below
Enobong Sunday John had celebrated the
birth of her new baby, Etimbuk John with
her friends and neighbours. Etimbuk, a boy,
was the second child of the family. But
barely three weeks later, her happiness
turned sour as Etimbuk’s right hand was cut
a little above the shoulder by her stepson,
Nathaniel John.
Enobong, Sunday Tribune gathered, is
married to an aged man, Mr. Sunday John,
whom she has to cater for in all respects, yet
giving birth to children almost on a yearly
basis, even as she barely feeds the family
with the proceeds from firewood sales. So,
the latest predicament is an agony and
added punishment for the young woman.
While narrating her ordeals from the
hospital bed at the University of Uyo
Teaching Hospital (UUTH) along Abak Road
Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, the young
woman in her 30s stated that on September
27, after bathing the baby, she had laid him
in her bedroom to sleep while she got busy
tidying things at the back of the house.
Based on the baby’s mom, she was attracted
by the unusual scream of her three week-
old baby and when she rushed into the
room she saw the baby in the pool of his
own blood.
When she observed well, she saw his right
hand lying separately from the rest of the
body.
“When I rushed into the room, I saw so
much blood and I was confused. When I
carried him up, I noticed that the right hand
was not there, then I later found the severed
part on the bed,” she narrated in vernacular.
Speaking further, she said it was another
little son of hers that drew her attention to
the fact that it was her stepson, Nathaniel
John, who severed her baby’s right hand.
Enobong, who lives in a village called Uruk
Otong in Oruk Anam Local Government Area
of Akwa Ibom State, told Sunday Tribune
that she and the baby were first rushed to a
health centre in the area, from where the
case was transferred to UUTH.
On getting to UUTH, Enobong said that the
doctor who examined the baby and the
hand said that the severed part was dead
and could no longer be joined to the body,
adding that it had become black and stiff
and was disposed in the hospital.
“I came to the hospital with the severed
hand but the doctor told me it was dead
and could not be rejoined to the remaining
part of the body. I believe they must have
thrown it away because it was black and
stiff by the time I got to the hospital,” she
stated.
The perpetrator of the evil act, Mr. Nathaniel
John, according to the mother of two, was a
man of about 30 years old, who had lived all
his life in Calabar and only returned to the
village not long ago.
She maintained that her stepson was
sometimes behaving as if he had gone
insane. “Children were afraid of him,
because he used to pursue them all over the
place, hurting them at the slightest
provocation, until that fateful day that he cut
my son’s right hand,” Enobong said.
Enobong said the stepson was killed by the
youths of their community after committing
the atrocity. “I learnt that he was caught by
the village youths while trying to run away
and was killed. The people who visited me
told me that he is no more,” she stated
further.
When Sunday Tribune visited the UUTH
where the child was receiving treatment, the
baby, who seemed to be oblivious of the
fact that something had gone wrong with
him was crying profusely. A white bandage
was wrapped round the severed part and
the left shoulder, while the mother was
breastfeeding him almost continuously to
stop him from crying.
On the hospital bill, Enobong said her aged
husband, Mr. Sunday John, is jobless and
had not visited the hospital since the
incident, while the proceeds from firewood
selling could only cater for feeding of the
family.
She said it was the coordinator of Uyai Iban
on line, Mrs Favour Obono that had been
helping her with clothing materials and
money for their upkeep in the hospital, even
as she had been relating with the hospital
authorities on her behalf.
Mrs Favour Obono, who happened to visit
the victim when this reporter visited the
hospital, confirmed that she was informed
by someone in the hospital who pleaded
with her as a philanthropist to take over the
case.
She said that since she stepped in, she had
been assisting the poor woman and the
child. She said that she had posted the case
on the internet, adding that initially, she had
so much opposition and threat, but there
had been some positive responses too, with
the hope that Akwa Ibom State government
would take over the case.
As at Thursday morning, according to
Favour Obono, Etimbuk was taken to the
theatre for an operation on the amputated
right hand and she was unable to raise the
required N100,000 for the said operation.
“I was asked to come with N100, 000
because some drugs would be needed
during the operation. I have not been able
to raise that amount but I had put down
what I had this morning, I am still looking
for ways to raise the balance. I am sure the
child will survive,” Favour stated.
She, however, admitted that some
individuals within and outside the state
were willing to offer some help but none
had reached her as at the time of filing this
report.
Also, the Chairman Medical Advisory
Committee of the hospital, Dr. Emem Bassey,
who insisted that this correspondent must
submit a written application before talking
to the victim’s mother, confirmed that the
state government had indicated interest in
the case as he had received a call from the
state government to that effect.
“I have not even seen that child, I knew
nothing about the case until this morning
when I recieved a call from the Government
House. I know that the government is
interested in the child’s case.” Bassey stated
Etimbuk who had become an object of pity
to all other parents in the ward, according
to nurses, is beginning to cope with his
present predicament.
Though without a right arm, there is every
assurance that little Etimbuk John would
leave the hospital soon.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO),
ASP Onyeka Orji, who reacted to the case
said it was a serious criminal offence,
stating that the police was still investigating
the matter.
He said that the command was not aware of
the fact that the culprit, Nathaniel John, was
killed by the youths of the community.
“As I told you, investigation into the matter
is still on and we will make our findings
public when we are through. I am not
aware of the killing of the culprit, that may
be a new development,” the PPRO stated.
This is brutality of the highest level. God
have mercy (Credit: Tribune) Share on Tweet