Azama, father of a
17-year-old girl, Senami, is on the run after allegedly cutting his daughter’s
leg with a hot knife. Punch newspaper reports that he tortured the girl, who
hawks Dokunu (local dish), for returning home late on Sunday, May 4.
She was said to have returned
home earlier on the fateful day, but went back to collect payment from some
customers who bought Dokunu on credit.
Senami’s explanation to her
father fell on deaf ears. He reportedly tied her with a rope and used the hot
knife on her left leg.
PUNCH Metro gathered that
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. Read more..
It was also learnt that a
seven-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.
It was said that the injuries
drew attention of the teachers in the school which Senami attended. One of her
teachers, it was learnt, took her to a social welfare office in Badagry. The
teacher later took her to the Ajeromi Police Station, where the case was
reported.
Senami, an indigene of Benin
Republic, 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 not to be named, 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.”
While Azama is still at large,
his wife was arrested for assaulting Musa. She was arraigned before an Apapa
Magistrate’s Court.
Appearing before the presiding
magistrate, Mr. P.A. Adekomaya, on Thursday, Rukayat pleaded guilty to the two
counts preferred against her by a prosecutor, Inspector Olusoji Ojaokoma.
The magistrate subsequently
sentenced her to three months of community service.
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