Battered Pregnant Woman: Lebanese Shuns Meeting With Govt

A planned meeting between officials of the Lagos State Government and a Lebanese manager with Toppan Printing Company, Kaveh Noine, who allegedly kicked his seven-month pregnant subordinate, Mrs. Alexandra Ossai, in her stomach was shelved after Noine refused to show up.

Noine was arrested by the Lagos State Police Command a few days after The PUNCH reported that Ossai had allegedly lost her baby due to the kick. She allegedly began bleeding in the early hours of December 16, 2013 and had an emergency surgery performed on her at the Mercy Hospital Fagba, to remove the dead foetus.

An invitation had been extended to Noine on Tuesday, when a team of state government officials, led by the Director of the Office of the Public Defender, Mrs.Omotola Rotimi, paid a visit to the company, located off Adeniyi Jones Avenue, Ikeja.

At the Thursday meeting which was held at the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, an unidentified employee of Toppan showed up instead of Noine and presented a letter explaining Noine’s absence.

Those present at the meeting, which was chaired by Rotimi, included Ossai’s lawyer, Mr. Courage Erhuen, representatives of the OPD, WAPA, the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency and Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Public Advice Centre, Mr. Alex Omorondion.

The letter, which was said to have been written by Toppan’s counsel, Mr. Toyin Pinhero, asked that the meeting be postponed till January 16, 2014, to enable Pinhero attend the meeting as he was reportedly out of the country at the moment.

Rotimi, in her response to the letter said, “We did not invite Toppan as a company to come for this meeting; the allegation is against an individual, Noine, and not Toppan. Noine could still have attended this meeting because he is in Nigeria; he is on bail. Even if there is no representative of Toppan here, Noine should have honoured the invitation.”

The OPD director then informed the unidentified employee from Toppan that the meeting would be rescheduled to a time that would be convenient for everyone present.