By Izunna Okafor, Awka
Barely one week after two cases of child abuse, maltreatment and battering were recorded in Anambra State, another Anambra child has been abused and battered by her Lagos-based aunt.
The victim, identified as Chinasa Anemem, was said to be a domestic worker to the yet-to-be-identified woman who battered her.
Similar to the two cases earlier recorded in Anambra, where one of the suspects was a nursing mother of twin, while the other was both a nursing mother and a pregnant woman, the suspect in the current case is also a heavily-pregnant woman.
It was gathered that the incident happened over the weekend at the residence of the suspect at Simeon Oniyimofe Street, in the Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos State.
According to a video currently trending on the social media, the suspect stabbed the little girl after discovering that she did not wash a bag she told her to wash. The suspect was also said to have abandoned the stabbed girl in the pool of her blood after perpetrating the crime.
An unidentified neighbour who spoke with the victim shortly after the incident, said the woman was fond of subjecting the little girl to different forms of inhumane treatment, adding that he saw the victim, Miss Anemem, writhing in pain and decided to approach and interview her.
Upon interrogation, the domestic worker, who hails from Anambra State, said, “My aunt used a knife to pierce my body because I did not wash a bag.”
Angered by the development, the neighbour brought out his phone and did a video clip that showed Anemem chronicling the circumstances surrounding the attack that made her bleed profusely at her back.
The neighbour, who ran a commentary on the video, accused the woman’s husband of threatening to kill him for exposing his wife’s actions to the world.
He said, “This is terribly bad, this occurred on May 19, 2023. It is very appalling that some of us as parents may not be able to take care of ourselves, and we will now give the children God has given us out into slavery.
“You can imagine this girl, this is not the first time, I am a concerned neighbour. It has been happening often. This girl is subjected to inhuman treatment and gross child abuse.
“She doesn’t go to school at times because she’s not able to carry out some house chores. This is what is happening here on Adaloko, no 18 Simeon Oniyimofe Street, Ojo
“The husband of the woman who stabbed this girl and gave her a deep cut, instead of being thankful to me, threatened to deal with me. And that is why I decided to take this evidence.”
When contacted for his reaction on the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Police Command, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said the woman had been arrested and transferred to the rejuvenated gender unit of the command, adding that an investigation into the case was ongoing.
He said, “The suspect has been arrested. She’s heavily pregnant and has been released to go home. She’ll be coming to the station from home.
“The case has been transferred to the rejuvenated gender unit of the Command, where, in collaboration with the Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency, she will get adequate medical care while the investigation continues.”
