A free-for-all which broke out after a disagreement between a landlady and her female tenant has left a 12-year-old boy, Emuobonuvie Onobrakpeya, and the tenant, identified only as Mrs. Onobrakpeya, critically injured.
Trouble started when a chicken reportedly bought by the boy’s father, Mr. Efe Onobrakpeya, for the Easter celebration, littered the passage leading to the apartment of the landlady, identified simply as Mrs. Atalekor, with waste.
The row, which started with verbal attacks, reportedly degenerated into physical confrontation between the two women and their children, which led to severe cuts on the faces and other body parts of the victims.
Efe, who confirmed the attack on his wife and son while speaking to journalists in Ughelli, lamented that the landlady had yet to be arrested after inflicting life-threatening injuries on members of his family.
He said, “On that day, the chicken was tied to something outside the house. When it began raining, my wife took it from the rain. The chicken littered the veranda with waste. This angered the landlady, who came armed with a razor blade following a confrontation and cut the faces of my wife and son.
“I reported the matter to the ‘B’ Division, Ughelli, and the Divisional Police Officer gave me two policemen to arrest the woman, who went into hiding after the incident. The policemen insisted I give them money before they do anything.”
The landlady’s husband, who identified himself only as Mr. Atalekor, said Mrs. Onobrakpeya and her son, Emuobonuvie, were fighting his wife when his 10-year-old son attacked them with a razor blade to defend her mother who was being hit with planks by the tenants.
He noted that it was not the first time that the two women would be fighting, adding that his wife also sustained injuries. The state police spokesman, Mr. Andrew Aniamaka, could not be reached for comment as of press time. However, a source at the ‘B’ Division, Ughelli, confirmed the incident, adding that the police were investigating it.