•As Lagos police arrest pregnant suspect, rescue victim
A girl, Chinasa (surname withheld), who was allegedly stabbed on the left side of her lower back by her mistress, Mrs Eucharia Ndigwe, has said that her offence was that she did not wash a bag.
Lagos State Police Command arrested the 30-year-old pregnant suspect on Saturday, May 20, 2023, after the video of the victim narrating her experience went viral.
Thenewsbearer learnt that the girl, who hails from Anambra State but residing with the mistress at 18, Simeon Oniyemofe Street, Adaloko Community, Lagos State, was stabbed in the morning on Friday, May 19, with blood dripping from the gaping sight of the injury.
A neighbour who alerted the world about what he described as “gross child abuse,” said that he was so touched when he saw the girl’s condition.
When asked in the video what actually led to the assault which harmed her, she said: “Because I did not wash bag, she (her mistress) used knife to pierce me.”
Aside the injury site she showed in the viral video, red marks of beating could also be seen on the girl’s back, indicating that she was also whipped.
Saying that the child abuse visited on the girl was appalling, the neighbour who posted the video of his interview with the girl on the internet decried a situation whereby parents abandon their children to slavery and suffering after giving birth to them.
The man, who said that he was a concerned neighbour, made it known that the subjection of the girl to inhuman treatment and gross child abuse had been often.
He said that sometimes, the girl would not be allowed to go to school because of her inability to carry out some house chores.
He disclosed that instead of the suspect’s husband being appreciative of his concern about the girl, “he threatened to deal with me to the point I would never have expected.”
This, according to him, was the reason he decided to record the incident as an evidence.
The viral video had prompted the state command to a swift move, as detectives went to rescue the girl.
Disclosing this on Twitter on Sunday, the command’s spokesman, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said that the suspect was also arrested.
However, due to her being in an advance stage of pregnancy, she was moved to a recently-upgraded Gender Unit where, in conjunction with the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency, she would get adequate medical attention while the investigation continues.
The PPRO stated that the victim had also been admitted at the Police Hospital in Ikeja, and is currently getting adequate medical care.
In the photo taken of the victim on the hospital bed, it could be seen that the spot of stab injury had been sutured.
SP Hundeyin said the state police command, led by the Commissioner of Police, Idowu Owohunwa, remains committed to combating domestic, sexual and gender-based violence across the state.
Meanwhile, the Anambra State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs Ify Obinabo, visited the survivor at the Police Hospital on Sunday.
She arrived in company with the Officer in Charge of Gender Unit, CSP Grace Agboola, who is currently handling the case.
