Juliana Francis
The Lagos State Police Command has finally arrested a woman and her daughter for torturing their 11 years old house help with hot iron over alleged phone theft at the Mushin area of the state.
The woman, simply identified as Alhaja, was said to have bragged and dropped names of influential Nigerians, even threatened officers that came to arrest her on the request of Advocates for Children and Vulnerable Persons Network (ACVPN).
It will be recalled that her daughter, Funmi, who was described as a military student, invited some of her friends to join her in torturing the boy. The boy was tied and then tortured with hot iron. The boy, identified as Tobi, was tortured with hot iron in an attempt to make him confess to stealing an android phone that went missing in the house.
However, following police arrest, Funmi has alleged that it was Alhaja that actually invited people to come and torture the boy.
The arrest of the mother and daughter was said to have been facilitated by Officer in Charge of Gender Anti-Human Trafficking, Aunt Landa Bethel Foundation and ACVPN.
The secretary of ACVPN, Comrade Ebenezer Omajalile, who had earlier led a team of advocates to the suspects’ home at Mushin, leading to their location and eventual arrest, said: “Funmi and her mother don't seem to know the gravity of their offence. The mother, Alhaja, was so full of herself and even tried to justify their negative actions towards the child. Funmi said that it was Alhaja, who invited four persons to beat the survivor, who in the process almost died. It appears Alhaja and daughter have been doing this to previous house helps and had been getting away with it. But not this time.”
The activist revealed that since the arrest of Alhaja and Funmi, the organization had been inundated with phone calls.
His words: “We’ve received several phone calls notably from the daughter of a former governor and from a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) in Kwara State Police Command. When they called, we didn’t argue with them, we just forwarded the videos and pictures of the burnt child. Many stopped calling to plead on their behalf and one in fact specifically begged us to ensure all those involved in this heinous crime against humanity were apprehended and duly prosecuted.”
According to Omajalile, Tobi has been moved out of his family home at Ikorodu and hospitalized. It was said that his torturers quickly ferried him to Ikorodu in order to conceal the damage done to him by Alhaja and Funmi.
“We were all very shocked at the level of dehumanization the survivor suffered in the hands of the perpetrators. The survivor was rushed to the general hospital by Aunt Landa Bethel Foundation. The Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in charge of the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Department (SCIID), Panti, Mr. Adegoke, saw the survivor, he was shocked at the level of damaged done to him.”
A concerned Nigerian, who brought the issue to the attention of the ACVPN, said: “This happened on Friday. Funmi is a military student. She carried out the torture with her colleagues. She brought her friends’ home and then tied the boy, and used hot iron on him. The boy was accused of stealing an android phone, but he repeatedly denied it. He said he didn’t steal any phone, let alone to have even seen it. But they didn’t believe him. According to sympathisers, when the number of the phone was dialled, it rang, but it was not with the boy. After hurting the boy, he was then released to his mother. The boy was taken to General Hospital Mushin, but quickly discharged on Sunday for reasons yet unknown.”
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