Juliana Francis
A 14-year-old old girl, simply identified as Joy, has narrated how her madam, Adekemi, tortured her with a blade, pestle and stick.
The girl, who was rescued by Esther Child Rights Foundation, had since been handed over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP).
Joy said that she was brought from Akwa Ibom to Shagamu, Ogun State, to live with Adekemi as her housemaid at the Ikotun area of Lagos State.
According to her, she was brought from her state, by one Mr Patrick, who also works for Adekemi.
The Executive Director of Esther Child Rights Foundation, Mrs Esther Ogwu, said: “Mr Patrick brought Joy to Lagos and handed her over to Adekemi in February, 2020. In April, 2020 during the lockdown, Adekemi inflicted injuries on Joy’s ears and on several occasions beat her without considering the fact that she might die. Adekemi attacked her with a pestle. She used the pestle to hit her head, left ear and shoulders. The pestle attack on Joy left her two shoulders inactive.”
According to Joy, her madam used to beat her with a stick for stirring eba, to the extent she would be left bleeding. She said that the use of the stick to beat her once made her land in hospital. She said that it appeared her madam’s intention was to kill her.
She said: “There was a time I overheard her conversation on the phone. She was speaking with someone, telling the person to come and pick my corpse to dispose. She thought I had died. The person asked if I was dead. On that particular day, my madam had beaten me badly and while I was lying on the ground because I was weak, she stomped on me and trampled on me.”
While narrating her idea to the activist, Joy expressed fear, stating her madam would kill her for telling her ordeal to Ogwu.
She also alleged that her madam had once used a blade to slash her hands. Joy allegedly lost consciousness due to loss of blood following her madam’s action.
Ogwu said: “On November 4, 2020, at exactly 10:45am, we received information from a government hospital that a girl had been tortured and her life was in the balance. The hospital workers noticed that Adekemi had brought the girl twice to the hospital after torturing her. Adekemi confessed that Patrick used to receive the sum of N10, 000 as monthly salary belonging to her Joy. She, however, couldn’t tell us or explain why she meted out such torture on her maid. Upon further probing, Adekemi, who claimed that her maid was having bruises before she was brought to her by Mr Patrick, later confessed and pleaded that she was guilty of all the allegations leveled against her. Currently, Joy's mental being is traumatised and her physical fitness has been seriously disfigured as a result of the countless torture. Joy is under thorough medical check and would need adequate attention to aid her present predicament. We also understood that Joy does not have any relatives around as we speak. To this regard, we however solicit for support in order to rescue her out of this situation.”
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