-How a Ghanaian Man Chopped his Spouse head, – leaves her with a Nervous breakdown
Monrovia – Moima Yapazuo, 40, sits in a chair in a confused state of mind, not having any memory of who she is despite staring into the faces of her three children.
Moima currently has three appalling scars on the top left of her head, her lower left back and her upper left arm. Her husband reportedly axed her while she was asleep.
According to Moima, her husband, Augustine Mensah, surprisingly chopped her with the axe after they quarrelled on Christmas eve.
Moima, a resident of the Johnsonville community, could not believe that a man she has lived with a little over five years could leave her with such unbearable pain.
Bendu 16, and Jestina Parker 14, both children of the victim, rushed to their mother’s room that faithful night after she heard her scream. They met her in a pool of blood, helpless and wailing in agony with the axe right next to her.
Before the Incident
After the Incident
Bendu told “The Stage Media” (TSM) In an interview, that on December 24, 2020, before the incident, Mensah told Moima he was going to hustle for Christmas money after which he returned with an angry face and told his wife that a fetish priest in Gbarpolu had told him that she (Moima) was in an extra relationship.
Moima told her husband (Mensah) that the fetish priest must have been kidding to have said much about her, but he got angrier at her response, pushed her to the ground and they began to wrestle. They managed to escape for safety.
Bendu said she took away her mother’s phone to a friend nearby while they were tussling and upon her return, she met her dad apologizing to her mom and they both appeared calm.
“Mensah went for water for them to bathe and they ate together, and he said ‘I am your man and you are my woman, no matter what happened we are in love” Bendu recalled.
According to Bendu, that same night Moima screamed from her room. “While we were sleeping, I heard my mother screaming and I woke up my baby sister for us to go see what happened to our mother.”
She told TSM that, “When I entered in the room, she (mother) was covered with a blanket, but an axe was lying beside her head, my little sister took the axe and said we should check outside, I told her no, let’s check on our mother first.”
“I lifted the blanket and saw our mother bleeding from her brain, I started crying and I kept on shouting for help,” Bendu said.
“My little sister could not stand the blood, and I started shouting with neighbour’s name, Aunty Darling Girl, your come oo, the man na (has) killed my mother and run away,” she narrated.
Their neighbours came and helped to put Moima in a wheelbarrow to take her to a nearby clinic.
Bendu, with tearful eyes, said, “All I thought she was dead, seeing her in the wheelbarrow, women brought lapper (wrapper) and we placed her on a bike as someone was holding her head because she was bleeding.”
After Mensah has committed the act, he was seen by neighbours who had no idea of his deed at home, walking barefooted while he greeted them saying “Merry Christmas,” she continued.
Mensah took away his travel documents from his locker upon leaving the house and the Liberian National Police have not been able to give feedback to the family about the status of their investigation. It is reported that Mensah has returned to Ghana, a claim that is yet to be verified.
Sore
Bendu said Moima full body could not fit in the wheelbarrow so her feet currently are full of sores because she was dragged in the wheelbarrow and on the bike for a little over two hours.
“Her feet left dragging from Johnsonville to Trinity Healing Temple (THT), a local medical facility in Barnesville and that is why she has the sore all on her feet,” Bendu has said.
A rescue Mission
Bendu said ELWA Hospital was the only facility that accepted Moima when she arrived after being denied admission by two medical facilities.
She said the bike took her to THT, and they said they could not work on her, but they will give her an infusion drip to stabilize her condition until they reached a facility that will accept her.
“When we reached THT, they said they could not handle the condition, but they will give her drip and cloth to cover the area until we reached a better health facility,” Bendu said.
Bendu said, “A man with a vehicle rescued us but along the way his gasoline finished so we had to search around to procure.
She explained that “It was after midnight Christmas day, I had no slippers, and again, I started crying, I went to the zogo (underprivileged youth) to ask if they knew where gas was sold, in no time, a motorcyclist who helped us procured gasoline.
Bendu said when the gas came, there was no funnel, we found an empty bottle, a neighbour on the vehicle had a knife so he opened the bottle and we successfully put the gas in the vehicle.
“We went to ELWA hospital, when we entered, they said no bed, so Aunty Comfort, a neighbour, begged them to allow my mother to get treatment on the ground because she was already dying.
“That was how she was taken and placed in a chair while they administer her treatment with a promise that when a patient is discharged the next day, she will use their bed,” she explained.
Consistent Quarrels
Bendu and Jestina recalled on one occasion sleeping alone with their mother at the home of a family relative who was bereaved but their father had a problem and called for a family meeting to complain about their mother upon their return.
According to them, their mother questioned Mensah why “My daughter’s husband is dead, and I should be able to sympathize with her, why are you making this an issue?”
“But when the family people came, he said he was wrong but he was ready to marry our mother that was how they started on a new page,” they said.
Feminist-in-Chief
President George Weah declared himself a feminist in chief and pledge to the women of Liberia that he will do all that he can during his tenure “To fight for gender equality and empowerment.”
There have been several protests advocating the rights of girls and women in the country.
On August 31, 2020, he also received a roadmap from the inter-ministerial taskforce on SGBV, but to date, there is no action taken that is made public.
According to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection Gender-Based Violence second report state that of 521 cases, 58.7 percent cases (306) were reported in Montserrado and 15.7 percent (82) are spouse, the intimate partner is survivor alleged perpetrator.
And the third quarter statistical report, Montserrado reported 52.8 percent (223)- of GBV cases reported and Survivor’s Perpetrators relationship, intimate partner shows (252); 19.9 percent of 477 cases.
