Fabian Ibe from Awaoma in Oguta Local Council Area of Imo State has been arrested by the Police for using acid on his younger brother Donatus, and daughter over alleged land dispute.
The sad incident which took place at about 10.35 pm on March 13, 2014 at his compound has deprived him of his left eye and a completely distorted look.
Sun News reports:
While Donatus has been reduced to a monstrous figure by the corrosive effect of the acid, which burnt out one of his eyes and disfigured his face. His youngest daughter, Ozioma who was also attacked was a bit lucky as her case was not as severe as her father’s.
Narrating his ordeal to Sunday Sun on his hospital bed, Donatus said on March 13, 2014 at about 10.35 pm he came out of his house to take in some fresh air as electricity supply from the public grid in their area was off, resulting in intense heat. As he stood in front of the house, he saw his elder brother, Fabian, together with his wife, Rachael, one of their daughters, Eugenia and the last son, Jahbuikem enter his compound. He said he went to find out their mission, as according to him, ever since the elders of their community had shared out their family compound among his siblings, the elder brother and his family had never stepped into his home.
However, unknown to him, the elder brother and his family members had an evil plan up their sleeves. Donatus said that as he inquired from his brother what brought him and his family members to his compound, he didn’t know that his brother and wife had acid in a plastic container in their hands. As soon as he was within reach, the bother’s wife splashed the corrosive substance on his face and body while his brother, Fabian poured the acid on his private part. He said his scream attracted people including his daughter, Ozioma who was not spared as his brother also poured the acid on her.
Donatus who spoke amid sobs said he never knew that his only brother was capable of such wickedness. He told Sunday Sun that despite the kindness and love he had shown to his elder brother, he still wanted to eliminate him in order to acquire all the parcels of land that their late father left for them.
He disclosed that it was he (Donatus) who married a wife for his elder brother, as according to the tradition, the younger brother was not supposed to marry before his elder and that the woman he had used his money to marry for the elder bother was the same person who poured acid on him in connivance with his brother.
“The person who did this thing to me is my elder brother of the same parents. I would never have thought that my own brother would be capable of such wickedness and sheer greed.It was I who married for him because, according to our tradition, the younger brother was not supposed to marry before his elder brother and since he did not have the money to marry, I did that for him.”
“When I was still living in Cameroon where I was doing my business, I brought my elder brother, Fabian to live with me in order to learn a trade since he was not doing anything reasonable then. But because he slept with the wife of a kinsman, he ran back to Imo State because of the shame the act would bring and refused to return to Cameroon. Even at that, when he finally agreed to learn driving, it was I who paid for his training and licence, and at the end of the day, I bought him a vehicle to enable him to start transport business. The house he had lived in the village was built by me until recently when one of his children was able to build a house, so I don’t know how I have wronged him,” he lamented.
Donatus stated that when he finally returned to Imo State from Cameroon, he discovered that his elder brother had appropriated all the land left for them by their late father and that even the ones given to him when their father was alive had been taken away by his elder brother with the active connivance of some of their kinsmen. He said his elder brother had plotted to chase him out of the family compound even when he had taken the lion share of everything.
He said: “When I finally came back to Imo State from Cameroon, my elder brother Fabian, who is my only blood brother, because of greed, wanted to take all the family farmland and even when the parcels of land had previously been shared and boundaries set, he and his wife, who ran away to her village in Izombe after pouring acid on me, would go back to remove the sticks used to mark the boundaries between us.
“Before they poured acid on me, Fabian had earlier hired some people to kill me and it was after their failure to carry out the act that they resorted to this acid attack because they wanted me dead by all means. This is because after they had poured acid on me, my brother’s wife wanted to bundle me into the back of a tipper, just to finish me off, but luckily for me, one of my Jehovah’s Witness brothers came with his car to take me to the hospital but they would not allow him. It was by force that he took me, and when they failed in their plans, they followed us with the tipper lorry. When we got to an isolated spot, my brother and his collaborators suddenly overtook us and blocked the road with the lorry and he told the man taking me to the hospital that he wanted the dispute between us to be settled on the spot, but my Jehovah’s Witness brother told them that what was important at that time was to take me to the hospital because of my condition.”
Also narrating her ordeal, Donatus’ daughter, Ozioma Ibe said she was inside the house when she heard her father screaming for help and that when she rushed outside to know what was the matter, her uncle, Fabian threw the plastic container in her direction as he was running away. She said luckily, the container missed her face while the liquid splashed on her chest and hands.
“I heard my father shouting that they had killed him, I quickly rushed outside to know what was happening but as I was running out, my uncle, Fabian who was already running away threw a custard plastic container in his hand at me, but I was lucky that the container only hit me on the chest and the liquid poured on my chest and some of it splashed on my hand. It was then that I realised that what was poured on me was acid as my body was on fire.”
Meanwhile, Fabian has been detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department of the Imo State Police Command, Owerri, while his wife, Rachael; daughter, Eugenia and Jahbuikem have been declared wanted.
