The victim
A young girl was brutally beaten and tortured with a hot knife for stealing 50 Naira. The 12-year-old identified as Muyiba almost lost her life and most parts of her body––including buttocks, back and shoulders were covered with burns from hot knife after the ordeal she was subjected to by second cousin, Bose Ola for allegedly stealing 50 Naira.
The girl’s ordeal was cut short when she fainted and had to be rushed to the hospital. It was in such a poor state she was brought in to Siloan Medical Centre at 14, Muhammadu Akije Street, Ejigbo, Lagos State.
Speaking through an interpreter, Muyiba, 12, told Saturday Sun the incident of Saturday, November 18, 2017.
“I saw N50 in the sitting room and I took it, not knowing that it belonged to Aunty Bose. Later in the day, when she asked about the N50, I denied seeing it, but when she said she was going to punish me, I told her the truth and apologised that it won’t happen again. I thought that the matter was over because she had accepted my apology. But she asked me to pull off my dress including my panties. I obeyed. She ordered me to lie on the chair. She brought out a cane, belt and stick for turning garri. She called Brother Rafiu (her husband’s younger brother) to assist her and they descended on me. After that, she lighted the stove and heated a kitchen knife and started to use it to sear my body”.
According to her, she fainted in the course of the torture and was rushed to the hospital where doctors revived her. Some neighbours who could not stomach the inhuman treatment reported the matter at Ejigbo Police Division, and also the Crime Victims Foundation of Nigeria (CRIVON), Gbagada, Lagos, which lead to the arrest of Bose and her subsequent arraignment at the Ejigbo Magistrate Court on one count charge of child abuse.
What did she do with N50? She said:
“I used it to buy biscuit and sachet water.”
However, she refused to answer the question as to whether her madam starved her.
Muyiba––whose mother is reportedly the fifth wife of her husband––was living with her grandmother, but the family complained about her poor academic performance in school and sent her to live with her cousin, Bose.
