Suspected hoodlums in Calabar, Cross River State capital chopped off a lady’s hand, while trying to snatch her handbag on the pedestrian bridge along Marian Road.
The lady (name withheld) is recuperating in a private hospital, and was said to be coming from the Marian Market, where she went to buy some household items.
The hoodlums accosted her on the pedestrian bridge that links the market with Ediba Road. They attempted to grab her handbag, but she resisted, forcing the hoodlums to chop off her hand with a machete and made away with the bag.
Mfon, a taxi driver told Vanguard, “It was about 7p.m. when people were coming from the market. The woman was crossing from the market toward Ediba, when the boys met her and held her bag. She struggled with them. One of the hoodlums used a machete to cut off her hand.”
He said the woman lost a lot of blood and was rushed to a private hospital, where she is being treated, while the hand had been taken to mortuary.
Our correspondent, who visited the hospital, was denied access to the victim as she was said to be too traumatized to talk.
Ms Irene Ugbo, Cross River State Police Public Relations Officer, confirmed that she was aware of the incident.
