It’s indeed shocking and heartless to note the violent extremism some persons would be willing to go just to satisfy and justify their conscience and curiosity or to exert their authority, anger and vengeance over certain situations and scenerios by taking laws into their hands.
A 40 years old woman whose name was given as Iswat Taofeek is in serious trouble with officers of the law of Ogun State Police Command according to news reports source PUNCH. She had been detained for allegedly mutilating and dehumanising a 12-year-old boy over alleged N5,000 theft.
Iswat Taofeek whose home address was given as No 36 Isoka Kugba in Abeokuta, Ogun State was according to news reports, said to have inflicted injuries on the boy using a very hot knife, with the accusations that the twelve year old lad confiscated the sum of N5,000 which she claimed belonged to her.
The Ondo state police officers at Adatan Police Station, responding to distress calls from neighbours of the victim and eye witnessses, accousted and picked up the woman responsible for this dastardly act around 8.30am on Monday November 24.2020
Reacting to the cruel incidence, Officer Abimbola Oyeyemi, the Police Public Relations Officer (PRO) in the state, in his statement on Monday disclosed and recalled how the little boy the victim in question fainted while the neighbours were lodging a report at the police station. In his words;
“the little boy fainted at the station and was quickly rushed to a hospital for medical attention.”
The police spokesperson continued saying that due to the overwhelming evidence and testimonies of family, neighbours and eyewitnesses as earlier mentioned in the report, the DPO Adatan Division, CSP Samuel Aladegoroye, gave an approval to arrest the woman who perpetrated this evil act her residence.
Iswat Taofeek, the woman in question, according to the police, tried to justify her actions by giving her own narrative. She tried to play down the fact that what she did was inhuman but rather a way of instilling discipline on the 12 year old child.
According to the police report, they claimed that “Upon interrogation, the suspect explained that the little boy is a son to her brother-in-law and he had been living with her for some time.
“She stated further that she kept a sum of N5,000 somewhere in the house but couldn’t find it and she believed that it was the boy who stole it and that was why she put a knife on fire until it was red hot and used it to burn the little boy all over his body.”
However, the PPRO said the Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun, had ordered the transfer of the case to the anti-human trafficking and child labour unit of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for further investigation and prosecution.
It is pertinent that cases like these should be given close attention and properly followed to its logical conclusion to serve as deterrent to parents, guardians and all those entrusted with childcare in order to curtail the increase in child maltreatment and abuse as well as domestic violence in the society.
Gift Joseph Okpakorese
Staff Writer
