On Tuesday, May 2, 16 year old Kafayat Bello was beaten mercilessly by
her father, Ibrahim Bello, who is a commercial bus driver. She said
he whipped her till she could not walk and then he plugged their
pressing iron and burnt her multiple times, inflicting severe injuries
all over her body.
Kafayat, whose case has been taken over by the Office of the Public Defender under the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, according to Punch, explained that on the day of the incident, she was given the duty of attending to a client who needed manicure and pedicure at her mom’s beauty salon.
Kafayat, whose case has been taken over by the Office of the Public Defender under the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, according to Punch, explained that on the day of the incident, she was given the duty of attending to a client who needed manicure and pedicure at her mom’s beauty salon.
“When I finished attending to the customer, I left the shop to play with some of my friends. When I got back, my mother asked where I was and told me she would report me to my father. When I got home, my mother told my father what I did, he started to beat me very hard and he then went off to plug a pressing iron, which he used to burn me all over my body,” she said.When the brutal beating of the daughter became unbearable for Kafayat’s mother who stood by as her husband punished their daughter, she rushed out to call neighbours for help, who later came in to restrain him.
OPD officials who handled the case said Ibrahim locked up his daughter after the incident and warned her not to go out until the injuries healed so that no one would know what happened.
“But when her classmates came looking for her from school they told her she had missed some tests. In order not to miss more tests, she rushed to school on Thursday, two days after she sustained the injuries. When she got to school, that was when we discovered the extensive injuries,” a school official who reported the case said.
As soon as the case was reported, her dad was arrested and OPD took over
the case.According to reports, there were at least 15 visible bruises
on Kafayat's where she sustained severe injuries from her face down to
her thighs.
Omotola said her office would continue to monitor the case to ensure that Ibrahim was diligently prosecuted.
Omotola said her office would continue to monitor the case to ensure that Ibrahim was diligently prosecuted.
Apart from the case of Kafayat, another case which OPD are working on is
the that of five-year-old Olamilekan Mustapha, whose father, Adigun
beat him till he lost consciousness.
His 28-year-old father reportedly resuscitated the boy thereafter.
The series of brutal beating Olamilekan’s father has meted out to him
seems to have turned his young body to a map of some sort as healed and
fresh marks of whiplashes crisscross all over his body and face.
All the boy could say was “my father beat me all the time” when asked about the marks all over his body.
Like Kafayat, observant teachers in Olamilekan’s school reported his
case to the authorities when they noticed the extensive marks all over
the boy’s face and body when he went to school the following morning.
Adigun, who is an auto mechanic, was later invited by the Office of
Public Defender, where he was later handed over to the police for
prosecution.
OPD said a protection order was being processed for the custody of
Olamilekan in a government children’s home, where the boy would be kept
pending the determination of his father’s case in the court.
It was gathered that Olamilekan’s mother and
Adigun had separated some years ago. But that his step-mother, who is
nursing a two-month-old baby also beat the boy ruthlessly regularly as
well.
Director of the OPD, Mrs. Omotola Rotimi, told our correspondent that
the children were victims of transferred aggression but that the
severity of the cases has warranted that the fathers be charged to
court.
Rotimi said, “The case of the girl that was burnt with iron was so
severe that she could have lost her life in the process. We also have
the father in custody and would ensure that he is prosecuted diligently
for the severe assault on the girl.
“While he kept the girl at home, he invited an auxiliary nurse to treat
her injuries but the nurse did a very shoddy job. The injuries could
have deteriorated and caused further damage to the girl’s body if not
because we were notified on time. We had to ensure the girl receive
adequate treatment first.”
Adigun |
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