Pregnant Woman Collapses After Being Slapped By Blind Father-in-law

A pregnant woman collapsed after she was reportedly slapped by her 71-year-old father-in-law. Eye witnesses said the old man was provoked by the young woman after which he struck her. Does this justify his actions? Read and judge for yourselves.

Punch reports:

A 71-year-old blind man, Meshack Igbokwu, on Thursday allegedly slapped his pregnant daughter-in-law in Ugbolu, near Asaba, the Delta State capital.

It was reliably gathered that the victim, with a five-month-old pregnancy, had disagreed with the old man over his choice of food at night, which led to an altercation between both of them.

The septuagenarian was said to have allegedly slapped the woman when she moved closer to him.

The blind old man, who spoke to our correspondent, said, “I was paid house rent by my tenant and I asked my daughter in-law to prepare eba (cassava meal) for me as I went to the bathroom to take my bath, after which I discovered that she prepared akamu (corn meal) for me.

“The money I put under the pillow was removed and this prompted me to call one of my tenants who paid me earlier to count the money, only to discover that the money was short of N5,000.

“I called my daughter (in-law) who shouted at me, saying I am blind.”

Eye witnesses of the fracas said the old man asked the woman for his money and why she prepared akamu instead of eba for him. She was said to have been infuriated by the queries and allegedly insulted him, which made him to reportedly slap her. She was said to have fallen to the ground and was taken to a hospital by neighbours, where she was revived.

The matter was reported at the Ugbolu Police Division. Officers at the division, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the man, who was under interrogation, confessed to the crime. They said investigation was ongoing.