A 39-year old Nigerian woman has burnt a girl’s thighs with hot
iron after accusing her of stealing her N1,000 at Oshodi area of Lagos State.
The woman, Mrs. Kudirat Isekolowo, who lives at
Igbehinadun area of Oshodi, said she did not know what came over her when she
carried out the act.
The mother of three was arrested by officials of the Lagos State
Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, WAPA, and Esther Child Right Foundation
and brought to the Lagos State Government Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja.
Traders were close to tears at Oshodi Market where the woman
sells clothes, when they saw how the thighs of the 15-year old girl (name
withheld) was seriously burnt, leaving permanent deep scars on her body.
The little girl was sent by her parents, who live at Agege area
of Lagos, to live with Isekolowo and serve as apprentice in her clothing shop.
She started living with her in November 2012.
At the WAPA Ministry, Alausa, there was anger when government
officials saw the deep wounds on the girl’s body, while they described the
woman as extremely wicked and needed to be punished severely.
Apart from the deep wounds on her thighs, there are also wounds
all over her body, occasioned by constant beating and maltreatment.
According to the girl, Kudirat accused her of stealing her
N1,000 last week, but she denied stealing the money.
She said the woman plugged a pressing iron and made sure it was
very hot and pressed it on her two thighs and one of her hands, leaving deep
wounds on her body.
“I am not the one who stole the N1,000. She said I took it and I
denied it. She plugged iron and pressed it on my two thighs. My parents live in
Agege, they asked me to live with her and learn how to sell clothes as they
don’t have money,” she explained.
On why there were other wounds all over her body, she said
Kudirat usually beat her with wire. Kudirat admitted carrying out the act,
saying that the girl stole her N1,000.
“She stole my N1,000 last week and I don’t know what came over
me. I know what I did is bad. I don’t know what happened to me when
I did it,” she said.
Kudirat wept when she knew that she could go to jail for her
wicked act. Even her close friends who came with her felt very bad when they
saw the degree of damage to the girl’s thighs.
Executive Director, Esther Child Right Foundation, Mrs Esther
Ogwu said she got a call from the founder of Compassionate Women Initiative,
Mrs. Mary Olasupo, about a woman who burnt the thighs of a little girl with hot
iron.
“We moved in immediately with the WAPA officials and arrested
her and brought her to Alausa. At Oshodi market where we arrested her, traders
were screaming when they saw the wound in the girl’s body,” she explained.
Esther said it is now left for the state government to prosecute
her in accordance with the child right’s law to serve as a deterrent to others.
According to Mary, the founder, Compassionate Women Initiative,
“a woman called me some days ago to intimate me about the incident. She told me
that a woman had an apprentice, whom she accused of stealing her N1,000 and
then used hot iron to burn her two thighs. That was when I called Esther Child
Right Foundation for help and they came.”
Officials of the state government have vowed that the woman
would be prosecuted and be made to pay for her callous act.
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