Police operatives have launched a manhunt to apprehend a man identified only as Azama, who allegedly tortured his 17-year-old daughter to the point of using a hot knife to cut her legs.
The victim identified simply as Senami, an indigene of Benin Republic, was said to have been tortured by her father because she returned home late from hawking Dokunu (local dish) on Sunday, May 4, 2015.
She explained how she returned earlier but went out to collect some money from some debtors following an order from her Azama.
On her return, the man reportedly tied her with a rope and used the hot knife to cut her left leg.
Senami had helped her stepmother, Rukayat, to hawk the goods, which she usually did in the evening every day. Senami lives with the couple in the Badagry area of Lagos State.
According to Punch, a 7-year-old girl, Aliat Musa, also lives with the couple. She was said to have been tortured by Rukayat. Musa, who is Rukayat’s cousin, sustained injury in the head during one of the tortures.
Senami’s teachers noticed the injuries and after she told them how she sustained them, one of the teachers took her to a social welfare office in Badagry after which she reported the case at the Ajeromi Police Station.
Narrating her ordeal, Senami, said, “On May 4, after I came back from hawking, daddy (Azama) ordered me to go back and collect the N500 my customers owed me. I came back home late. I did not know my father had put a knife on the fire. He tied my leg and started stabbing me with the knife.
“When I got to the school the following day, my teacher, Mr. Okoafose, took me to a welfare office and we all went to a police station.”
An employee of the welfare organisation, who preferred anonymity said the victim was “utterly abused.”
She said, “The subject (Senami) reported that she hawked Dokunu every day after school. This is a clear case of child abuse. It is high time parents stopped this inhumane act. We will ensure that the father is arrested.”
Azama’s wife, Rukayat was arrested for assaulting Musa and was arraigned before an Apapa Magistrate’s Court where she pleaded guilty to the two counts preferred against her by a prosecutor, Inspector Olusoji Ojaokoma.
The presiding magistrate, Mr. P.A. Adekomaya, on Thursday, May 14, 2015 subsequently sentenced her to three months of community service.
Delivering his verdict, Adekomaya said, “Upon the quilty plea by the accused, she is sentenced to three months community service to be carried out at the Badagry General Hospital.”
