A man identified as Surakat Idowu has been arrested by operatives of the lagos State Police Command for allegedly brutalising his five-year-old daughter with a hot iron in the Ikotun area of the state.
PUNCH Metro learnt that 45-year-old Idowu, who separated from his wife in 2013, allegedly tortured the girl with an iron in the face and in the private parts on Monday.
Investigation reveals that Surakat got angry after he asked his daughter to dispose faeces in a potty into the latrine, but she poured it on the floor.
The suspect who resides on Kayode Toyeso Street, Liasu Road, in the Ikotun area with his daughter-the victim got a hot iron and allegedly battered the girl’s body.
A neighbor who witnessed Idowu’s evil act reported the incident at the Ikotun Police Division and the suspect-an auto mechanic- was arrested.
As a result of her father’s brutality, The little girl still in a nursery school, was reportedly blinded by the burns she suffered on the face, while her private parts were swollen.
A neighbour, identified only as Basirat, said the girl slipped while going to pour the faeces into the latrine.
She said,
“The mechanic had a quarrel with his wife and divorced her in 2013 when the girl was just two years old. On that Monday, he asked her to go and dispose of her faeces in a potty in a latrine at the backyard of the house. But the area was slippery and the girl fell, splashing the faeces on the floor.
“The father became angry and got a hot iron. He began to beat her with the hot surface of the iron until the girl’s face became swollen. We tried to caution him, but he would not listen. That was how the matter got to the police.”
The state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, who confirmed the story had directed that the case be transferred from the Ikotun Police Division to the Gender Unit at the command headquarters, Ikeja.
A police source said that efforts were on to locate the mother of the victim after two years of separation from Idowu.
Further more, the matter was also reported to the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team, which was working with the Child Protection Unit of the state Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation to get a shelter for the victim.
The DSVRT Coordinator, Lola Vivour-Adeniyi, said, “The victim is presently receiving treatment in a hospital due to the severe burns. The police have assured that the suspect will be prosecuted. When the victim completes medical treatment, she will be taken into protective custody.”
How can anyone be another human being this way let alone his own little girl? Only God knows what he must have been doing to the girls mother before she left. This is just so sad an heartbreaking. May God heal her, Amen.
Jesus christ, the man should be punished heavily for this.
That man is evil.