A 40-year-old woman identified as Ronke Olayinka has been arrested for inflicting terrible injuries with a blade on her 9-year-old nephew, Abdullahi Taoreed, for eating at a party in Lagos State.
According to New Telegraph, on Sunday, June 7, 2015 Taoreed went to a neighbour’s house at Pipeline Street in Oke-Odo area of the state to serve food and also to eat since there was no food in the house.
His action infuriated Olayinka who he regards and calls mummy since his parents are dead.
Narrating his ordeal, he said, “Yes, it was my mummy who inflicted blade cuts on my hands because I went to a party opposite our house to eat. There was no food at home. I was hungry, so I assisted the people holding the party to carry chairs.
“I knew that if I assisted them, they would give me food. They gave me food. My sister went to report to my mummy. We went for evening prayer. After the prayer, my mummy called me and started cutting my hands with a blade.
“She went out to buy the blade. The cut was deep. She poured pepper into the wounds. She then gave me a hot pot of beans to carry to the kitchen with the bloodied hands. One of our neighbors, a woman, saw me and took the pot from me.
“She went and told everyone in the compound. People saw my hands and started crying. It’s not every time my mummy gives me food. She uses a piece of wood to beat me, but uses canes on her kids.”
Neighbours who saw him with the injury alerted the police at the Oko-Oba police station who immediately arrested the aunt.
During interrogation, Olayinka told the police that Taoreed was very stubborn adding that she is a widow and has three other children to cater for.
She said, “I’m a struggling widow. I have three kids. One is 15, the second is 12 and the third is 10. I’m a trader. I leave home in the morning and come back at night.
“Whenever I return, neighbours usually complain about Abdullahi; how he usually goes to different places to eat. Sometimes, he would go with his friends to a place called Agbele-Kale to swim.
“He’s just stubborn and doesn’t listen! He’s my brother’s son. I’ve been taking care of him since he was a baby. He behaves like someone without home training. He usually goes to parties to eat. He was behaving like someone who doesn’t have parents or like someone who has no home training.
“When I returned on Saturday, neighbours said I should warn him. On Sunday, he went out again. Food was ready, but he was nowhere to be seen. I was angry. I used the blade on his two hands. I never knew it would be that bad!”
On why she used a blade to discipline the boy instead of cane, she said, “Anytime I want to beat him, he would run away, forcing me to chase him. But what happened that day was the work of the devil.
“Yes, I poured pepper on the wounds. I only wanted to make him to be a good boy.”
Abdullahi said it was not the first time his Aunt had physically assaulted him.”
Kneeling and crying profusely, Olayinka pleaded with the police at Oke-Odo Police Station to forgive her.
Her pleas fell on deaf ears as the Divisional Police Officer, Mr. Monday Agbonika, insisted that she would be charged to court, to serve as deterrent to other women who abuse children under their care.
