Picture inside: Ex-militant bathes former lover with acid

*She discovered he was married with 3 children
*Needs N5m for treament in Indian
WARRI—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.
From Left: Austin and Juliet
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.
… in the beginning
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: “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
“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.”