The victim
A woman identified as Uduak Monday, has been sent to prison.
The woman was remanded in Afokang Prison by a Magistrate’s Court in Calabar, Cross River State, for pouring hot water on a 10-year-old houseboy, Okon Nse.
According to Punch Metro, the 29-year-old woman allegedly poured hot water on the victim’s face in an attempt to wake him up.
The incident, which caused severe burns and injuries on the child’s face and arm, happened at about 5.30am on November 24.
A neighbour to the accused, Mr. Emmanuel Agan, had, on the said date, noticed the injuries on the child’s body and immediately reported to Basic Rights Counsel Initiative, a frontline child rights organisation in Calabar.
The organisation immediately swung into action by documenting the matter and arrested the perpetrator with the help of the Airport Division of the Nigeria Police in Calabar.
Upon rescue, the 10-year-old boy, who hails from Uruan in Akwa Ibom State, had told officials of the Basic Rights Counsel Initiative that he was a pupil of PCN Primary School in Akim, Calabar, until September when he stopped going to school after he was asked to repeat primary three.
Southern City News reports that the accused woman was a food vendor along Etta Agbor Road in Calabar.
The boy said the woman poured hot water on him when she discovered that he did not wake up on time to carry out his domestic duties.
During the court sitting last Thursday, the magistrate, whose name could not be immediately ascertained, turned down Uduak Monday’s bail application and remanded her in prison until the next adjourned date of December 9.
Legal practitioner and child rights activist with Basic Rights Counsel, Mr. James Ibor, said his organisation had provided medical care for Nse and also written to the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Social Welfare to seek temporary accommodation for the child.
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