Hathian Police Department receptionist, Asia Banu, shares a harrowing tale of murder done in self-defense.
Banu met a man who she describes as, “Short and kind of odd, but I felt sorry for him… He was really nice at first.”
Homeless, without any shelter, she offers him her couch. He sleeps there one night and disappears. A week later he returns.
Their accord then takes an intimate turn and the two engage in a short mutually agreed upon sexual relationship.
In the last night of his visit, Banu had reservations.
“I was pretty much over him by the last night he came by. You know when you feel used? Like that, bad judge of character.”
According to Banu, the man has a troubled history of drugs, violence, and manic rambling.
“He said he had been with some female at the cemetery and took some drugs… He was on that white boy kind of drugs, meth maybe. He said he was beat up a lot when he was a kid, and I think he killed his dad. He kept talking about Gein burgers being made of human flesh. That man was nuts, for real.”
Things soon turn violent. It starts with too hard of a bite to the neck and evolves to stabbing with a knife. Banu now bears several scars from the assault and previous injuries from an attack by the notorious Guy Fawkes assailant. She shyly covers her wounds with clothes and tattoos.
In defense, Banu strikes with a candle holder. The man then flees to barricade himself in an upstairs bedroom.
“I sang to him,” Banu recounts from the evening, “Told him we were going to have a child and he went into a fit of rage.”
A fight breaks out and Banu stabs him four times. He succumbs to the injuries. The attack also results in the loss of life of her unborn child.
“I watched the life go out in his eyes… I watched him die because of me. I took his life, I took him away from someone who might actually have cared for him. I’m not sure that I could do that again. Feel that again. See the life leaving, feeling the life leaving a body.”
Banu cannot recall her thought process leading up to killing in self-defense.
“You don’t really think in that moment, you just act on basic animal instinct and maternal instinct. So, self-defense: the need to be the survivor.”
Since the incident, members of the HPD have shown their support to Banu.
“Oh, they have been just so nice. I never really worked at a place where the people show, genuine concern. I don’t know, maybe it’s because I bring them fresh baked muffins and cookies all the time, or the fact I take care to ensure they have good coffee. They are out there keeping us safe. They’re nice people, at least the ones I’ve had the pleasure of working with.”