An Anambra-based lawyer identified as Adachukwu Okafor was recently apprehended by the Nigeria Police Force on allegations of assaulting her 10-year-old househelp.
The police, through their Force Public Relations Officer ACP Olumiyiwa Adejobi, addressed the media at the Force Criminal Investigation Department in Abuja, stating that the incident was being treated as a case of attempted murder and child abuse.
Okafor had been declared wanted by the police, who also offered a N2 million bounty for her arrest.
It was alleged that she used a red-hot knife, an electric pressing iron, and other weapons to inflict injuries on the underage maid. According to the police, Okafor claimed to have witnessed the househelp fondling her six-year-old son’s private parts while bathing him, which purportedly led to the assault. The househelp had only been working at Okafor’s residence for two weeks before the incident occurred.
“On January 29, 2024, this suspect accused her of this and proceeded to tie her hands, mouth and flog her. She also inserted a hot knife into her private part and poured ground pepper into it. She then plugged an electric iron into the socket, allowed it to be hot, and used it on the maid’s cheek and buttocks.
“After causing the maid trauma, she now locked her up in the toilet from the afternoon of the incident till the evening of the following day without food,” he said.
The PPRO stated further that the aunt of the househelp cried out, thereby attracting passersby after the suspect returned the underage help to the house with the inflicted injuries on her.
“It was at that point that she dropped the young girl with the aunt, without cloth, with the burns on the cheek and buttocks, with blood and water oozing out of her private part, that the aunts raised an alarm.
“This attracted passersby who brought out their phones and recorded them, and it went straight to the social space, which attracted the police and Commissioner for Women Affairs in Anambra State,” he explained.
He, therefore, reiterated the commitment of the police to ensuring the prosecution of the case and justice for the househelp.
“Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police has assured Nigerians that a diligent prosecution of this case will be carried out and no iota of the incident will be swept under the carpet. And we will ensure that justice is served to the little girl. And this should serve as a note of warning to those who use little children for child labour,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, enjoinig members of the public to speak out and report any acts of violence, to ensure that justice prevails for the victims.
“You see any bad thing, you shout out; if you don’t shout out, you will die in silence, so I’m so glad you shouted out, and it is like a command to us. We in government are assuring you that we will always take it up and will never let you down ever again.
“You have been let down before, but not anymore, because the President has already said the poor should breathe. So what he means is that Nigerians should be more respected, taken care of, and treated with compassion.
“So this is the lady. We have brought her and are assuring you that we will get justice for that girl and justice for the nation. We will not let go,” she said.
The suspect, a mother of four, on her part, denied inflicting any form of injuries on her househelp, claiming she fell on a burning camp gas while she was trying to flee from being beaten.
She said, “She entered the kitchen with her back because she was running away from the cane, and she mistakenly sat on a burning gas cylinder. That was what happened to her. I didn’t use iron or anything like that on her or a knife.”
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