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A woman who went to the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Tamale Police to lodge a complaint about her molestation by her husband was allegedly slapped by a police officer. Chief Inspector Lawrence Adombire is alleged to have slapped her and that has affected the right ear of the mother of three, Ms Felicia Abariche, 36. She was subsequently sent to the Tamale Central Hospital for medical care. Sources at the Tamale Police Station said Ms Abariche was the fifth complainant to have been assaulted by the Chief Inspector Adombire, who is the station officer in charge of the Tamale Metropolis. The fourth complainant, identified only as Kwamena, also claimed to have been slapped severally by Mr Adombire in November last year, after a disagreement between him and a woman was reported to the officer. Some of Mr Adombire�s colleagues have described him as very temperamental. Narrating her sordid experience to journalists in Tamale last Friday, Ms Abariche said the incident occurred on December 24, the eve of Christmas. Assault Ms Abariche, a sanitation officer, lived with her husband, Sulemana Seidu, 43, at Buipe in the Central Gonja District, where he worked as an agriculture officer. She said following a disagreement between her husband and herself, her husband assaulted her and their 11-year-old daughter. �I was later thrown out of the house on November 9 by my husband and some of his family members for daring to report the assault case to the police,� Ms Abariche claimed. She eventually rented an apartment at Tamale, where she relocated and moved in with her children. However, Ms Abariche further claimed, on December 23, her husband and his friend came to the house at night to demand custody of the children, to which �I vehemently resisted even after threats of death from him.� She said after the incident, she decided to inform the DOVVSU office about it the following day, as she learnt her husband had earlier reported that she had poured hot water on him and also threatened to stab him. Allegations Ms Abariche denied the allegations and asked the female investigator, Esther Quarcoo, who was handling the case, whether she saw any evidence to that effect on her husband when he came to the office. �While interacting with the policewoman, the Chief Inspector left his desk and crossed over to where I was seated. He told me to shut up and that I was a liar. In the ensuing disagreement with him over the matter, he began slapping me,� she claimed. According to her, she had a swollen jaw and some sharp pains in and around the right ear when she woke up the next day. She was subsequently offered a police general medical form to go to hospital, where she was attended to by Dr Patrick Bampoe. When contacted, the Northern Regional Co-ordinator of DOVVSU, ASP Emmanuel Holortu, said the victim had verbally reported the matter to his outfit and that an investigation would commence into it to ascertain the veracity of her claims. However, he indicated that Chief Inspector Adombire had denied all the accusations levelled against him by his alleged victims.