Doctors are battling to save the life of a 39-year-old woman, Victoria Emmanuel, after her husband, Haruna Emmauel, allegedly stabbed her.

Victoria was said to have been enduring domestic violence since she married her husband 16 years ago, but left their home in Kaduna after she was almost strangled by Haruna last year.

A family friend, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Haruna, a building engineer, had under the guise of coming to take his children with him, visited Victoria at her new residence in the state.

The source said Haruna pleaded with Victoria to return to his house, but she asked that he sign an undertaking.

She said, “What happened was that she was beaten on December 28, 2021. He almost strangled her. She took the case to a human rights group and moved out of his house. Her parents rented another apartment for her. She would have left Kaduna, but she was schooling there.

“This was how she has been coping with the torture since she got married to him 16 years ago. Each time she leaves the house, he will come with different ministers of God to meet her parents and he would cry and vow not to do that again, but it continued.

“He has signed undertakings more than three times, but he never honoured them. He signed an undertaking with her parents, another at Sabo Police Station and one at the DSS office. He refused to sign at the human rights organisation because of the conditions.

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“Last Friday, he said he wanted to take his children with him; those children were with him, but he sent them to their mother when they were sick. She didn’t stop him, but he later apologised to her and said he wanted her back in his life.

“She asked him to sign the fourth undertaking; he refused to sign. She refused to move in with him; he left with her second son.”

Explaining what transpired, Victoria, who was gasping for breath as she faintly uttered her words, told our correspondent that she was about to walk out after several pleas by her husband to return home when he grabbed her by the neck and stabbed her in the chest and other parts of her body.

Victoria also claimed that Haruna stabbed their son.

She said, “My son that went with my husband ran back panting and sweating. Shortly his father appeared and started begging me for forgiveness, I told him that I had forgiven him, but can’t stay with him. I was about to walk out when he grabbed me from behind and held me by the neck; he had a knife with him and stabbed me in my right chest with force and shouted, ‘Die!’

“He removed the knife and stabbed me in my left and right hands. He also targeted my neck, but I managed to dodge it. He stabbed me in the back. My son was shouting and begging him not to kill me.

“Neighbours were trying to open the door, but they couldn’t. My son summoned courage to push him away. He used the knife on my son’s stomach. The boy narrowly dodged another attempt to stab him before neighbours came to our rescue.”

The family friend said Haruna had not been seen after the incident, adding that the stab injuries on Victoria’s right chest made it difficult for her to breathe properly.

She said he dropped the knife, his phones, car keys and slippers and took to his heels when neighbours were struggling to keep Victoria alive.

The suspect could not be reached by The PUNCH as he reportedly abandoned his phones at the scene.

His sister, Esther, aborted calls as soon as our correspondent introduced himself to her.

A follow-up message was sent, but she did not respond.

Haruna’s elder brother, James, declined comment on the matter.

“We are heading for court and everything will be unraveled there,” he added.

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The Kaduna State Police Public Relations Officer, Mohammed Jalige, promised to get back to our correspondent.

He had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.

There has been an increase in the rate of domestic violence in the country lately.

A Jos-based man, Mathew Samuel, fled after allegedly ripping open his wife’s stomach and cutting her intestines during a disagreement on April 22, 2022.

On April 7, 2022, a pregnant Oyo woman, Omowunmi, allegedly stabbed her husband, Nwankwo, to death after discovering he was planning to marry a new wife.

The police in Ogun State also arrested a 46-year-old man, Sobola Olatunji, for stabbing his 38-year-old wife to death on suspicion of infidelity in February 2021.

PUNCH