The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has paraded Mrs Adachukwu Okafor, an Anambra-based lawyer who was recently apprehended for allegedly assaulting her 10-year-old househelp.
Okafor, presented herself at the police station after she had been declared wanted and a N2 million bounty placed on her for allegedly using a red-hot knife, an electric pressing iron, and other weapons to brutalise the underage Househelp.
ACP Olumiyiwa Adejobi, Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), while addressing the media at the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) on Friday in Abuja, said it was a case of attempted murder and child abuse.
Adejobi, represented by CSP Olabisi Okuwobi, National Coordinator, Police Campaign against Cultism, and other vices, explained that the househelp worked for two weeks in the house of the suspect before the incident occurred.
According to him, the suspect alleged that she saw the househelp handling the penis of her six-year-old son, while bathing him.
“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 toilets from the afternoon of the incident till the evening of the following day without food.”
The FPRO added that the aunt of the househelp raised an alarm, which attracted passersby when the suspect returned her to the house after inflicting grievous 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, therefore, reiterated the commitment of the NPF to ensuring prosecution of the case and justice for the househelp.
“Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police (I-G) 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.
Mrs Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, Minister of Women Affairs, urged the public to speak out and report any violence to ensure that justice prevails for the Victims.
