A LADY ARRESTED FOR BADLY BEATING UP HER 8YRS OLD NEPHEW
A primary school pupil whose name was given as Chinoye Iyonetu narrated his ordeal in the hands of an aunt; who he had taken as a mother. He was so flogged allegedly by his aunt that he had injuries all over his body. The little child who was visibly frightened by the mammoth crowd that throng the Police Command including newsmen and Policemen to listen to his chilling tales muttered: Mama tied my hands, flogged me every day because she said I cut my slippers. Yesterday (meaning the other day) she got a rope, tied my two hands behind me, took a horsewhip (koboko) and flogged me. I was crying and crying and she locked me up in our house and went to market. I did not eat for two days. She said I am possessed by evil spirit and that I came to destroy her. Some people later came and broke open the door and released me. Please let me go, I want to go to my daddy and go to school.” But Madam Charity Oyonetu, the 45 year old aunt to Chinoye though admitted flogging him, was quick to defending her action saying that it was for corrective purpose. “This boy is the son of my junior brother so how would I want to kill him. I have my own children who are grown up and are in the village. The truth is that I believe Chinoye is possessed. It was February last year that I went to the village to bring him because the mother had left my brother and I felt I should do what a senior sister should do to assist her junior brother but what I noticed is that he is destructive and this is not ordinary. He has broken my television set, destroyed most of my household utensils; even his clothes and shoes; he has also thorn and cut into shreds respectively. He confessed to me that each time was destroying things in the house it was a strange being that normally overwhelm him; that is why I concluded that he is a wizard. If you doubt what I am telling you, I will bring his clothes including his school uniform for you to see. If I had known that this boy would turn to be like this, I would not have brought him to live with me in Lagos in the first place,” she explained.
Asked why she dropped her children in the village and took her junior brother’s child instead, the Agbaai, Nkota local government area, Imo State born petty trader said, “My children are grown up. They are two; one is 22 and the other is 18. I did not want them to join bad gang in that ‘Animal kingdom’ near Seme border where we live. But I do not see anything bad in what I have done except that I over reacted in the beating. Like I said I was tired of his destructive antics because I had taken him to several churches for deliverance to no avail and I was making arrangements to return him before this incident happened. Please let the Police forgive me.” But addressed newsmen the Commissioner of Police, CP Imohimi Edgal described the action of Madam Charity Iyonetu as man’s inhumanity to man adding, “The ordeal of the little boy came to the fore when on May 9, 2018 at about 0900hrs, the suspect use horse whip aka koboko to flog the child, inflicting injuries all over his body. She thereafter, locked him up in her one room apartment with his two hands tied behind his back and left to her shop. The survivor was crying and shouting for help which made one Peter Aluku to call the Police. When the Police arrived, they broke the door of the house and rescued the child. The suspect would be charged to the special and sexual offenses court as soon as investigation is concluded.”
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