Woman beats six-year-old boy to death for bedwetting

Police have arrested a woman for allegedly beating her cousin to death for bedwetting at Akute area of Ogun State. The suspect, Mrs. Kofoworola Olaide, was said to be fond of beating the six-year-old boy, identified as Samuel, on a daily basis for bedwetting.
It was learnt that the beating, which led to Samuel’s death, started about 6a.m. Blood was said to be gushing out of the boy’s nose and he became unconscious. Samuel was rushed to the hospital, but he died on the way. Residents of Amodu Street, where the incident occurred, were said to have risen in
defence of Samuel when they could not bear the beating anymore, but Olaide told them it was a family matter.
A resident, who did not want her name in print, said the suspect brought the boy to live with her in September last year, after his mother died. She said: “Since she brought the boy, it is one beating or the other on the slightest provocation. Whenever Samuel returned from school, instead of giving him food, she would pounce on him and beat him as if they were mates.

“In December when all children were celebrating, the boy could not come out of their apartment to play with his peers because the woman had broken one of his arms. I then confronted his aunt who claimed he brought the broken arm from school. “Out of curiosity, I went to Samuel’s school and confronted the owner of the school who said she had also noticed how the boy used to cry when his friends mistakenly touched the arm. “It was the woman’s neighbour who raised the alarm that attracted everybody in the community. But she sent away those of us who went to beg her to spare the boy. We went to inform some men who later forced her door opened. When we rescued the boy from her, he was unconscious. We rushed him to the hospital, but we lost him on the way.
“To avoid taking laws into our hands, we immediately called the police from Ajuwon Division to arrest her.” A neighbour, Mr. Alaba Shylon, said when the suspect brought the boy in September, she allowed everyone in the neighbourhood to play with him, but she suddenly stopped that. He said: “When she brought the boy, she told me that the boy mother’s is late and his father could not take good care of him, because of financial problems.
She said that was why she decided to bring him and carter for him. “I was passing by one day, when I saw her beating the boy. She hit his head on the wall and dragged him with his dreadlocks. When I confronted her, she told me to mind my business. On Wednesday when the incident occurred she started beating the boy as early as 6a.m.
Even the church, where she worships, has warned her to stop maltreating the boy. “Each time people persuaded her to stop maltreating the boy, she would rain curses on them. That was why we left her and allowed her to do whatever she wanted to do with the boy.

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“The suspect does not also give the boy food at the appropriate time. Sometime she would send the boy on an errand at night when most of his mates were with their parents. Now she has beaten the boy to death.” When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, to confirm the story, he promised to get back to our correspondent.

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