My husband shot my butt with a gun, i still can't leave him

Oluwatoyin Malik reports on the rare love displayed by a woman who was shot by her husband but who is pleading with the police not to prosecute the man. THE story is that of a strange love, such that is uncommon. For anyone that heard of a man shooting his wife in the course of a  quarrel, the reaction would be that such an act should be punished. But it sounds strange to hear that the woman would still profess love for such a person or even plead for him at the police station, despite sustaining injuries from the shot fired by the husband for whom she was carrying a second child.

That was the drama that played out between a couple recently at Apete community, Ibadan. The husband, Wasiu Waheed (35), reportedly had a quarrel with his wife and when he saw that he could not silence his wife’s caustic tongue, he decided to use a weapon that would have silenced the woman forever, save for providence.
Being a security guard, Waheed possessed a barrel gun and he did not hesitate before picking the gun which he allegedly aimed at his wife, Kafayat. Immediately she saw her husband with the gun, the woman knew she was in trouble and attempted to escape. However, her legs could not move fast enough as the pellets from the gun hit her on the buttocks and back.

Though not apprehended when the incident occurred, policemen at Apete nabbed Waheed recently when he had another case at the police station. To the consternation of all, Kafayat pleaded with the police to, please, leave her husband as there would be nobody to take care of her and  her only child if he should be detained. She also defended her husband’s action as something over which he had no control.

Speaking on what led to the quarrel which almost cost his wife her life, Waheed, an Ibadan indigene from Ayeye Patako Quarters, said: “The incident happened on December 15, 2012. I am a security guard. I came from work that day. The gun I took to work did not fire when I pulled the trigger, so when I got home , I tried to remove the already loaded pellets and the gunpowder from it.

“My wife went to buy oranges which she was  selling and came back between 7.30a.m. and 8a.m. that day. I was inside sleeping. She came to ask for money for breakfast. I reminded her that there was elubo and little stew at home. I told her to wait until I had taken some rest but she went on making noise outside. I woke up and took the gun to remove the pellets so that I could discharge the gunpowder.

“I held the gun and was working on the gun. She came back from toilet and still continued  to rant. There was an iron rod that I used to solidify the gunpowder inside the gun. I was using it when she came and started struggling with me. In the process, the gun fell. I wanted to pick the gun but my hand mistakenly pulled the trigger and the gun went off. I did not even know that she was hit by pellets because she ran away.

“Shortly after, my father who lives within our community, sent  people to call me. He was the one who told me that I had shot my wife and that she had blood stains on her buttocks. Later, a man in our community asked her to report my action at the police station. The police took her to a hospital at Apete but they said they could not take care of her.

“Later, we took her to a traditional doctor where the pellets were extracted locally . She recovered quickly after that and had continued with her business.

“I was arrested recently when a man I apprehended for moving late in the night reported at Apete station that I assaulted him. that was how the police said that I was a wanted man in the case of an attempted murder. I told them, however, that I was not on the run, and I had been living with my wife after the incident. It is not rational that I would just pick a gun and shoot my wife.”

The wife, Kafayat Rasak, who gave her age as 25 years initially declined to speak with Crime Reports. When she eventually spoke, she tried to speak along the line of her husband’s narration, but when it was pointed out to her that some of the things she said were contradicting one another, she opened up on what transpired between her and her husband on the fateful day.

According to her, “It is true we had a quarrel but I believe that his action was not ordinary. That was not our first time of quarrelling and he had always had a gun which he never used on me until that day. What happened was that he threw my things out when we quarrelled.

“My properties were outside for about two weeks and some things got missing. I went to him and asked him to find those things. When I saw that he got up from where he was, I ran out but the next thing I felt was pain as pellets from his gun penetrated my buttocks and back. But we have since settled everything and the wound has healed.”

A police source told Crime Reports that when the incident occurred in December last year, it was the wife who came to the police station to report. The source added that all efforts to locate the man proved abortive as he was alleged to have absconded from home. But the man, it was said, used to come home at night to eat, enjoy conjugal relationship with his wife and sleep.

The source further stated that they had to arrest the man when a case of assault was reported against him on February 11, because signal on the initial case had been sent to the command headquarters and there was an order that he should be arrested whenever found.

Crime Reports gathered that Kafayat, who could not stand her husband’s arrest and detention, boldly walked into the office of a senior officer to plead for the release of her husband, saying that she could not bear to see him suffer in detention or taken to prison. The noticeably-pregnant woman told the police that she was not ready to pursue the case.

However, the Deputy Commissioner of  Police in Oyo State, Mr Clement Adoda, told Crime Reports that the case was still pending before the police, stating that the offence was not against the woman but the state.