Step-father bite off step-son's ear

 

There was confusion on Saturday in the Ebute Meta area of Lagos State after a truck loader, Udeme Inim, 30, allegedly bit off his stepson’s ear.

The incident happened around 11am on Asaka Street, off Abule-Nla Road, Ebute Meta West.

It was gathered that there had been a disagreement between Inim and his wife, which had led to the suspect assaulting her.  It was learnt that when the victim, Christopher Bassey, intervened, Inim left his wife and attacked him.

In the ensuing scuffle, Inim, an indigene of Akwa Ibom State, was said to have gone for the teenager’s right ear and bit it off.  The victim was rushed to a hospital shortly after he reported the matter to the Iponri Police Station, but his ear could not be saved. 

The ear was seen inside a transparent nylon after sighting the victim in the Ebute Meta area on Monday.  The affected part was bandaged.

He said, “On that day, he was fighting with my mum and at a point he began to destroy some of our property. It was too much for me to bear.

“So I tried to stop him and that was when he attacked me and bit off my ear.”

The police arraigned Inim before a Magistrate’s Court on one count of assault.

The police prosecutor, Cousin Adams, said the offence was punishable under Section 243 of the Criminal Law Vol. 44, Laws of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011.

Inim said he was not guilty of the charge and elected summary trial.

The magistrate, Nurudeen Layeni, wondered why the defendant wore dirty clothes, asking if he was employed.

Inim said, “I am employed. I work with Cross Country Company as the manager. It was the police that gave me the clothes in their station; it is not my clothes.”

The Investigating Police Officer, Sergeant Dibia Godwin, told the court that Inim had entered the station stark naked.

He said, “He works as a loader with Cross Country. On that day, the victim had first come to the station to report; there was blood all over him, he had to be taken to the hospital.

“Shortly after, he (Inim) also rushed in. He was stark naked. He said he wanted to report the same matter and we wondered how he could say he wanted to make a report after disfiguring somebody’s ear. We had to get something to put on him.”

The defence counsel, Beauty Otighi, told the court the matter was a family affair, adding that the victim was the defendant’s stepson and that they lived in the same house.

“We want to apply for his bail in liberal terms pursuant to Section 115 (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State, 2011 and also he’s to be presumed innocent based on Section 36 (5) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” she added.

The magistrate admitted him to bail in the sum of N20, 000 with two sureties in like sum.

The case was adjourned till March 26, 2015.