Seven-year-old assaulted with red-hot knife by aunt for allegedly stealing gum

For allegedly stealing a neighbour’s chewing gum, a girl was beaten and injured with a red-hot knife by her 25-year-old aunt Loveth Ozoihu.

Ozoihu, who was arraigned in an Ikeja Chief Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, however, denied the offence.

The defendant, who is facing a charge of assault, occasioning harm, was granted a bail sum of N200, 000 by the Chief Magistrate, Mrs Olufunke Sule-Amzat.

Sule-Amzat ordered the defendant to provide two responsible sureties as part of the bail conditions.

She said that the sureties must be gainfully employed and show evidence of tax payments to the Lagos State Government; and adjourned the case until March 7, for trial.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Ozoihu, a resident of Josiah Aina Street, Alakuko, a suburb of Lagos State, reportedly beat her 7-year-old niece to a pulp, then burnt her with a red-hot knife from a cooking gas fire.

The defendant, according to the Police Prosecutor, Inspector Benson Emuerhi, told the court that the defendant committed the offence on February 2, at her residence.

“The defendant was, however, arrested by the police at Alakuko Division, following a tip-off from a neighbour, one Nmasi Okwudili, that they should rescue the victim, who was being abused by her aunt,” Emuerhi said.

He said that the defendant beat the victim and used a red-hot knife to burn her buttocks for allegedly stealing her neighbour’s chewing gum.

Emuerhi said that the defendant had earlier used a wire to beat the victim for taking fish from her stock and eating without her knowledge.

The offence, he said, contravened Section 173 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.

NAN reports that the section prescribes a two-year prison term for offenders.