Nigeria: Nursing Student Sprayed With Acid In Ghana Dies

Kasali Kofoworola Zainab, 25, the Nigerian nursing student who was allegedly sprayed with acid by her friend Eugenia Billiana Coleman in Accra, has died. Zainab, who was studying at the Pherson Health College at Achimota in Accra, died at the Lagos State Hospital, Nigeria, last Friday. She was pronounced dead six days after she had been transferred to Nigeria from the 37 Military Hospital, Accra, where doctors had spent eleven days trying to save her life. Kasali had sustained burns on her face, the front part of her body, buttocks, hands and legs. An elder sister of Kasali, Ms Bukola Fafali, who is based in Nigeria, told the Daily Graphic in a telephone interview that her younger sister died at exactly 6:30 a.m. on Friday, December 4, 2015.

“We had looked forward to her recovery from the severe injuries sustained from the acid. We were heart broken when we heard that she had passed on,” Ms Fafali said. She said “we the family of Kasali have put our trust in God and we know the wrath of God will deal with the perpetrators and any one who would be trying to influence the law in the course of the investigations and prosecution.”
Kasali was said to have been sleeping on a couch when her friend, identified as Eugenia Billiana Coleman, a 32-year-old businesswoman, allegedly poured the acid on her on November 18, 2015.

While on admission at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra, Kasali told the police that Eugenia whom she lived with subjected her to the acid bath after she had rejected a request to join Eugenia in her narcotic business. Though Eugenia had denied being the culprit, Kasali claimed she saw her friend standing by her side when she woke up from sleep, after feeling the effect of the acid on her body at about 1:30 a.m

She told the police that Eugenia who stood and watched her screaming told her to stop shouting as no one would hear her. After pleading with Eugenia to take her to the hospital, Kasali told the police that her friend drove the car with her on board around town until 5:30a.m. when she took her to the 37 Military Hospital.

At the 37 Military Hospital, the hospital administrators called the Airport Police to arrest Eugenia, a day after the incident when she failed to comply with their directive to report the case to the police.
A second person, identified as Samuel Boateng, an accountant with the Ghana Cocoa Board, was also arrested by the Police on suspicion of being Eugenia’s accomplice. On Monday, November 30, 2015, Eugenia and Samuel, arrested in connection with the case, were put before the Amasaman Magistrate Court, near Accra.

The court, presided over by Nana Osei Assibey, granted the two persons bail with sureties after hearing the facts of the case presented by the prosecuting officer, Chief Inspector Fredrick Ansah. The Homicide Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) has since taken over the case from the Sowutuom District Police Command.