An Anambra-based lawyer, Adachukwu Okafor, has been paraded by the Nigeria Police Force for allegedly brutalising her 10-year-old househelp.
The police, who had earlier declared the lawyer wanted and offered a N2 million bounty for her arrest, accused her of using a red-hot knife, an electric pressing iron, and other weapons to assault the underage househelp.
Addressing the press at the Force Criminal Investigation Department in Abuja on Friday, the Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumiyiwa Adejobi, described the incident as a case of attempted murder and child abuse.
According to Adejobi, the househelp had only been working at the suspect’s house for two weeks before the incident occurred. The lawyer alleged that she caught the househelp fondling the private part 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 locked her up in the toilet without food,” he explained.
The aunt of the househelp raised the alarm after the suspect returned the injured maid to her with burns on her cheek and buttocks and blood oozing from her private part.
The police assured Nigerians of diligent prosecution and vowed to ensure justice for the househelp. The Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs. Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, urged the public to speak out against violence and promised to ensure justice for the victim.
The suspect, however, denied inflicting any injuries on the househelp, claiming that the girl accidentally sat on a burning gas cylinder while trying to escape being beaten.
