A 40-year-old house wife, Iswat Taofeek, a resident of 36, Isoka Kugba, Abeokuta, has been arrested by operatives of the Ogun State Police Command for dehumanising a 12-year-old boy living with her.
The spokesman of the Command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, who confirmed the development in a statement on Monday, said the suspect was arrested at about 8:30am on Monday.
Oyeyemi said the arrested followed a complaint by one of Taofeek’s neighbours who came to Adatan Police Station with the little boy, whose body was full of injuries inflicted on him with a hot knife and cutlass.
While the report was being lodged, the little boy fainted at the station and was quickly rushed to a hospital for medical attention.
On the strength of the report, the Divisional Police Officer Adatan division, CSP Samuel Aladegoroye, detailed his detectives to the woman’s house, where she was promptly arrested.
On interrogation, Taofeek explained that the little boy is a son to her brother-in-law and he has been living with her for some time.
She stated further that she kept N5,000 somewhere in the house but couldn’t find it and she believed that it was the boy who stole it and that was why she put a knife on fire until it was red hot before she used it to burn the little boy all over his body.
The Command’s Commissioner, Edward Awolowo Ajogun, has ordered the transfer of the case to the Anti-Human Trafficking and child Labour Unit of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for further investigation and prosecution.
