Retiree commits suicide after losing sight

Punch reports that Davies, a resident of Oyegbemi Street, Amukoko area of the state, reportedly committed suicide by drinking a poisonous substance suspected to be Sniper, in the early hours of Saturday, December 9, 2017, as he could not cope with living as a blind man.

It was gathered that Davies had gone for an eye treatment at a center on Adeola Odeku Street, Victoria Island, on Thursday, December 7, in company with a friend identified as Edet and was discharged on Friday, December 8, but after the treatment, he could not see with the eye again.

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The deceased’s only child, Nancy, a primary school teacher who resides in Ajah area of the state, said that her father had called her on the telephone to accompany him to the center but that she could not make the appointment.

“On Tuesday, December 5, I called to tell him that I would come to his house in the evening of the next day so I could go with him to the center on Thursday.

But he said a friend of his called Edet, would follow him there and that I should not come again. He didn’t tell me the name of the center.

He just said it was on Adeola Odeku Street. I don’t know the friend.”

The 22-year-old Nancy stated that her father complained of pains and loss of vision when she called him on Thursday to know his condition and was shocked when he told her it would take months before he could regain his vision.

“He said a bandage was put on his left eye after the treatment and that the doctor told him it would take six months before he could see properly.

He said he was in pains and needed my prayer. I prayed for him. When I got to the school where I teach on Friday, I also asked my pupils to help me pray for him.

While I was washing clothes on Saturday, my husband approached me and said, ‘The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.’ I asked him to tell me what happened. He said my father had killed himself.”

Nancy added that her father’s death might not be unconnected with the complication arising from the eye treatment, adding that her father did not lack funds.

“After he retired from Dana Milk Company as a driver, he started driving an Indian. The company had paid his pension since last year. My mother was not with him. She lived in Ikorodu.”

A neighbor of the deceased said he heard Davies shout around 6 am on the day he took the poison.

“I was still on the bed that time. A few minutes after, he went into a coma. He died before we could get him out of his room,” he said.

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The State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Dolapo Badmos who confirmed that Davies drank a liquid substance suspected to be Sniper, said his corpse was taken to the Ajeromi General Hospital’s morgue for autopsy.