Father beats toddler to a pulp with hot iron in Ikotun

• Police rescue orphan caged by foster parents in Ondo

The police in Lagos have arrested a man who allegedly beat his five-year-old daughter with hot iron.

The father, 46-year-old Surakat Idowu, a resident of 8 Kayode Toyoso Street, off Liasu Road in Ikotun, Lagos was nabbed after his neighbour reported a case of battery of the toddler to the police.

The suspect allegedly burnt the child with hot iron on her face and private part because she slipped and fell inside a gutter.

It was gathered that the suspect gave the toddler waste to pour into the latrine but the child slipped on her way and fell in a gutter.

Angered by the development, the man was said to have beaten the girl mercilessly before burning her with hot iron.

It was learnt that the girl’s mother has been separated from her abusive father for over two years and efforts were on to trace the woman.

Confirming the incident, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, Fatai Owoseni said the victim was receiving treatment at a hospital and the suspect who was being interrogated would be charged to court for child abuse and assault occasioning harm.

In another development, a minor who was caged in a kiosk by her foster parents, has been rescued by the Ondo State Police Command.

The state Commissioner for Police, Mrs. Hilda Ibifuro-Harrison, at a press conference at the Command Headquarters in Akure yesterday, said the command got a hint on July 13, 2016, through residents of the neighborhood, who reported the child’s abuse to the police.

Ibifuro-Harrison identified the suspects as Mrs. Matthew Mary, who with her husband, alleged that the girl was possessed and thus subjected her to several inhuman treatment for months.

“She was being fed in the cage, where she has defecated in for a long time.

On receiving the information, personnel attached to Juvenile Welfare Centre (JWC) visited the scene and met the girl in the cage as reported. She was immediately rescued and taken to police clinic for medical attention.”

The police boss said she was moved to tears when she saw the girl in her pathetic state. “I had to be strong as an officer, but my emotions betrayed me and I was worried she wont be able to survive.”

The commissioner vowed that the foster parents would be charged to court, while the girl will be taken to the state welfare home.

One of the police officers that has been taking care of the victim and who donated blood for her survival, ASP Ojumu Olayemi, recounted how they struggled to save her life.

The foster mother, Mary, who said she is a farmer and an indigene of Enugu State, however, denied the allegation, insisting that the victim was only confined to a corner in her shop, where she was kept in the morning and released in the evening whenever she returns from the farm.

Mary, a mother of six who lives in Imafon town, an outskirt of Akure metropolis, confirmed that the six-year-old girl is her nephew, whose grandmother said her parents died of HIV/AIDS.