Photo: Retiree commits suicide two days after losing sight

A retiree of a milk producing company in Lagos, Roy Davies, has comitted suicide two days after a treatment on his left eye went awry.

Davies, who lived on Oyegbemi Street, Amukoko, Lagos State, reportedly took substance suspected to be Sniper – an insecticide – in the early hours of Saturday.

punch learnt that the 54-year-old man had gone for an eye treatment at a centre on Adeola Odeku Street, Victoria Island, on Thursday in company with a friend identified as Edet.

After the treatment, he could not reportedly see with the eye again. He was said to have been discharged from the centre on Friday.

The deceased’s only child, Nancy, told our correspondent, who visited the residence on Tuesday, that her father had called her on the telephone last Monday that she would accompany him to the centre.

Nancy, a primary school teacher, resides in Ajah, while the father lived alone.

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

The 22-year-old woman stated that her father complained of pains and loss of vision when she called him on Thursday to know his condition.

Nancy said she was shocked when Davies told her it would take months before he could regain his vision.

She said, “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.”

She said 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 at 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,” she added.

A neighbour, who wanted to be anonymous, said he heard Davies shout around 6am 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.

A relative of the deceased, who identified himself only as John, said he had yet to understand the circumstances surrounding the incident.

He said, “I am not aware that he went for the eye treatment. It was on Saturday when he died that I got to know from her daughter. I am still disturbed about what actually led him to kill himself.”

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, said Davies’ corpse was taken to the Ajeromi General Hospital’s morgue for autopsy.

“The man allegedly drank a liquid substance suspected to be Sniper insecticide and locked up himself in his room. He died before help could reach him. The scene of crime was visited and photographed by detectives. Investigation is ongoing,” the PPRO said.