Mrs. Alexandra Ossai,
34 is said to have lost her 7 month old pregnancy after she was kicked in the
stomach by her Lebanese boss, Kaveh Noine. Before the incident, Mrs. Ossai was
a supervisor at a Lebanese printing firm known as Toppan. This is what she
said, as reported by PUNCH.
Read full story after the cut:
“I started working at
Toppan in April. I earn N17,000 salary and work from Monday to Saturday.
Anytime Noine was
annoyed, he would beat the person he was angry with. Sometimes, he would throw
whatever he can lay his hands on at the person.
Prior to that incident,
Noine had slapped me many times.
Noine had said he would
hold me responsible for the shortcomings of the people I supervised. As a
result, I often assisted my subordinates in their duties to make sure that
Noine had nothing to complain about.”
According to Ossai, the
story stepped onto another level when on December 13, 2013, Noine got furious
when he saw something on the floor within her section.
“It was a container for
a drug. That is what we do; we produce packets for drugs and perfumes. So when
Noine saw one of such packets on the floor, he was so angry that he gave me a
blow to the chest,” she recalled.
She said Noine
subsequently went into his office and typed a termination letter for Ossai,
which she refused to sign.
Her refusal allegedly
enraged him further and after verbally abusing her, he was said to have told
her that it was her last warning.
The following day,
Ossai ran into Noine while coming from his secretary’s office. Noine allegedly
dragged Ossai back to the office and called her a wicked woman.
Ossai said:
“He said I looked like
a mad person. After abusing me, he hit me on my neck twice. Then, without
warning, he kicked my stomach with his knee.
Some co-workers were there but they did not intervene. I felt a sharp
pain in my stomach.”
The mother of one,
whose younger brother and sister also worked in the same company, said she
prevailed on her siblings not to attack Noine when they heard the news.
I never for once told
my husband what I was going through at work. I didn’t want him to come and
fight Noine. I pleaded with my siblings not to fight,” Ossai said.
Although the pains
eventually subsided after two days, it was learnt that in the early hours of
Monday, Decemeber 16, 2013, Ossai began to bleed.
She was rushed to a
private clinic at Fagba.
She was told that her
placenta had been damaged as a result of the kick and that she had to undergo
emergency surgery to save her life.
She said:
“I didn’t know that my
baby had died until two days after the surgery. I was told my baby lost his
face too due to the kick.”
She said a report was
made at the Area F police command the following day by her aunt, Mrs. Olabisi
Jaiyeoba.
Jaiyeoba said:
When Ossai’s husband
and I were refused entry into the company, we went to report to the police.
They accompanied us there and even had to force their way in. The
administrative manager lied that Noine had travelled out of the country. But as
of that Tuesday, he was still in the country.
It was later that we
learned that he travelled last Friday.”
Efforts to get a
response from the Deputy Manager of Toppan printing Company, Mr. Abass
Al-Souki, proved abortive as his phone number indicated that it was
unreachable.
However, the admin
manager, who declined to identify herself, told PUNCH Metro that the factory
was closed for the Christmas holidays.
She said:
We closed for the
holidays last Friday and would reopen on January 8 2013. I would not like to
speak on that matter because it is already with the police. Also our company
lawyer is on it. You can only get across to our management in January 2014.”
Legal counsel for
Toppan, Mrs. Nnebe, said that she could not comment on the matter.
She said:
“It would be best if
you wait for the police to conclude their investigation. Ossai has only made an
allegation. Let the police finish their investigation and then we would give
our response.
The Lagos State Police
Public Relations Officer, DSP Ngozi Braide, said:
“The incident which
occurred on Thursday was not reported to the police until Tuesday. It took
about five days before it was reported. So when the police arrived at the
suspect’s workplace, they were informed that he had travelled. It took a long
time for the complainant to report the matter. But we are investigating.”
I just hope the matter
is investigated seriously, because if this is true, then justice must be
served! It’s so annoying! Gosh! Who does that?
