Father, stepmother arrested for beating daughter to death

Police in Lagos have arrested a father and his wife for beating their 12-yearold daughter, Blessing Imeh, to death. The incident occurred at Oko Addo community in Eti-Osa East Local Council Development Area of Lagos State.
The suspect identified as Francis Imeh hails from Cross River State. It was gathered that the girl was beaten to death for burning a neighbour’s clothes while playing with her peers.

The late Blessing was said to be playing with a lighted candle with her mates when she mistakenly burnt the neighbour’s clothes.
It was also learnt that when the girl’s father came back from work his wife, who is Blessing’s step mother, reported the incident to him.
The reportedly descended on the little girl and beat her mercilessly. “The man hit the girl on the floor of their house and in the process her spinal cord was broken. She became paralysed.
She was unable to stand or walk again,” a source said. The source alleged that Imeh locked the girl inside the house in order not to raise suspicion among neighbours.
“The little girl was lying ill for a week, without proper medical attention after the injury she sustained from the beating. “A day before Blessing died, she crawled out of their house to urinate, but suddenly fell and hit her head on the floor. “Some neighbours in the community who were passing bye saw her and took her back to the house.
When the pain was too much for the girl, some neighbours reported her predicament to the landlady of the house, who in turned invited the girl’s father and the stepmother, warning them that the girl must not die,” another source said. But unknown to the landlady, Blessing had died the previous night before her warning, without neighbours noticing.
The father and the stepmother kept mute over her death and contacted someone in the community to help bury her secretly. It was gathered that the man who was contacted to bury the girl reported the matter to the Baale of the community.
The Baale, it was learnt, invited the police from Ajah Police Division, who arrested Imeh and his wife. But when contacted for confirmation, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ngozi Braide, she told our correspondent to send a text massage to her mobile phone. She, however, did not reply to the text massage at press time.
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