Lagos govt hands over mother who burnt daughter’s privates to police

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A woman, Bukky Lawal, who burnt the private part of her 11-year-old daughter, Ore, with hot iron for coming home late from school in Ikorodu area of Lagos, is now in police custody.

Ore was said to have sustained second degree burns from the attack, which has horrified child services officials in the state.

A day after evading arrest, as officials of the Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation visited her home after getting wind of the incident on Wednesday, Lawal reported herself to the state officials, who handed her over to the police after giving her statement.

WAPA officials had initially taken into custody, a grandmother they had met at her house, when she reportedly fled after sighting the state officials.

Our correspondent contacted the spokesperson for the ministry, Mrs. Modupe Ileyemi, to find out where the case stands at the moment, but she did not pick several calls to her line.

In a similar incident, another woman, Mrs. Chinyere Okeke, a restaurant operator, was arrested on Monday, after she allegedly burnt the laps of her 15-year-old niece, Chiamaka Nwabufor, with hot iron over accusations that a boy visited the girl while she was away.

Saturday PUNCH learnt that after burning the girl, Okeke locked up the victim in a room and left for her restaurant.

But as the girl cried in agony, neighbours who got wind of what had happened, reported the case to child rights activists.

Saturday PUNCH learnt that despite the state of Chiamaka’s injuries, Okeke made no attempt to take her to hospital for treatment.

On Tuesday, December 1, 2015, officials of the Esther Child Rights Foundation visited Okeke’s home and learnt that the girl had been forced to go to school despite her injuries.

When the officials went to her school, the girl said her parents in Anambra State sent her to live with the woman, who is her mother’s younger sister, a few months ago.

The girl, who showed some of the marks on her body, said everyday had been an agony for her in the house.

“She beats me almost everyday since I got here. She would sometimes hit me with a hammer even when I didn’t know what I had done wrong.

“The day she burnt me with the iron, a boy in my class was passing by our street and came to our house when she saw me.

“When my aunty got home, a neighbour told her that she saw a boy in our house and she became angry. She started to slap me and hit me.

“When she was tired of beating me, she plugged a pressing iron and used it to burn me after it was hot. I just want to go back to my parents, I am suffering too much in her house.

When Okeke was contacted, she first said she had a right to treat her “own daughter” anyway she liked.

Saturday PUNCH learnt that she later reported to the Aguda Police Division that child rights activists were harassing her for punishing her daughter.

As soon as the police were told that she used a hot iron to burn the girl, they arrested and detained her, it was learnt.

The Director of the Esther Child Rights Foundation, Esther Ogwu, said, “When she went to the police, she did not mention the horrible thing she had done. She even said she beat the girl because a boy raped her. Our question is, if your niece was raped, should the next thing be burning her with a hot iron?

“We have also notified the Lagos State’s Office of the Public Defender, of the case and we are sure they would take the necessary step, she said.

Our correspondent learnt that OPD officials visited the police station on Tuesday and had intervened in the case.

When a spokesperson for the agency, Mr. Adeoba Adeniji-Adele, was contacted, he said the woman has been charged to court.

“We are also aware of the case of the girl whose mother burnt her with hot iron in the private part. Parents in Lagos should learn to control their temper. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse. It is a serious crime to inflict this kind of grievous injury on children,” he said.

Source: Punch