A woman in Lagos has been apprehended by
police after it was alleged that she assaulted her daughter and caused her
serious injury.
The woman, identified as Mrs. Maxwell, was
arrested after reports that she burnt her daughter, Blessing, with a hot
iron.Mrs Maxwell is said to have injured her child because she (Blessing) had
taken some baby food.
Information gathered that the incident
came to light after a neighbour, who lived within the Police College Barracks,
Ikeja, with the Maxwells, allegedly called the authorities of the LMNPS to
complain about Blessing’s condition. Blessing’s father is said to be a police
corporal.A source within the school, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity, said, “It was last Friday that we got the anonymous
call. At the time, two of Blessing’s younger siblings were in school, so we
called them aside and asked after Blessing.
“At first, they were both scared that they
would get into trouble with their mother if they told the truth but they
eventually opened up and said their mother had used a hot pressing iron on
Blessing.”The Head Teacher of the school, accompanied by some other employees
of the school, was said to have visited Blessing at home.It was learnt that on
arriving at the Maxwells’ house, Blessing was seen sitting outside their flat,
sporting burn marks all over her body.The source said, “We tried to question
Blessing about what happened to her, but she was scared of her mother.
Eventually, we went into the house and confronted the mother, but she lied that
hot water had mistakenly poured on Blessing.“When we asked if Blessing had
received medical attention for her injuries, her mother got annoyed and dragged
Blessing into the house. She then refused to answer more questions. Since it
was a police barracks, we thought it wise to leave quietly before things got
out of hand.“The most painful aspect of the whole issue is that despite
Blessing’s wounds, their neighbour told us that she had been carrying out house
chores like before. From what I saw, that girl is so injured that I didn’t
expect that she would be able to come to school for the rest of the term. Not
one of us guessed that she was being abused at home.”It was gathered that both
mother and child were picked up by officials of the Lagos State Ministry of
Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation after the school authorities alerted the
ministry. Blessing was said to have been picked up by a Lagos State Ambulance
Service bus.When our correspondent contacted the Child Director, WAPA, Mrs.
Fadairo, she said, “I cannot talk at this time. We are at the hospital and
Blessing is in critical condition.”Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer,
Ngozi Braide, could not be reached for comments
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