Admin l Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019
LAGOS, Nigeria – For allegedly stealing chewing gum belonging to a neighbour, a 25-year-old woman, Loveth Ozoihu opted to torture her niece and burnt her buttock with red-hot knife, leaving the little helpless, an Ikeja Chief Magistrate Court has been told.
The offence, according to the prosecutor contravenes Section 173 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
Although the accused denied committing the offence, Chief Magistrate, Olufunke Sule Amzat, granted her bail in the sum of N200,000. Sule-Amzat, also ordered the defendant to provide two responsible sureties as part of the bail conditions.
Sureties must be gainfully employed and show evidence of tax payments to the Lagos State Government (LASG), she said and adjourned the sitting till March 7, 2019 for trial.
Ozoihu, who resides at Josiah Aina Street, Alakuko, a suburb of Lagos, is facing a charge of assault occasioning harm. The defendant, according to the Police Prosecutor, Insp. Benson Emuerhi, after beating her 7-year-old daughter to a pulp, then burnt her with a red hot knife which she brought out from a cooking gas.
Emuerhi told the court that the defendant committed the offence on Feb. 2 at her residence.
“The defendant was, however, arrested by the Police at Alakuko division after a tip-off from a neighbour, one Nmasi Okwudili (the complainant) that the girl in question needed to be rescued from the clutch of abuse.
Emuerhi alleged that the defendant beat the victim and used a red hot knife to burn her buttocks for stealing her neighbour’s gum.
“Ozoihu assaulted her niece causing her grievous,” he said. Emuerhi that the defendant was fond of maltreating the victim.The defendant had earlier used a cane and wire to beat the victim for stealing her fish.
