A 29-year old woman, Mrs. Grace Jacob, has been arrested for battering her 10-year-old son, Emmanuel, and forcing him to sleep in the staircase of their home at night.
If not for a non-government organisation, Esther Child Foundation, came to the rescue of little Emmanuel, he might have been dead by now as he now nurses severe injuries inflicted on him.
Mrs. Jacob, 29, who lives at 4, Muhammed Street, Santos, Egbeda area of Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria, gave birth to Victor when she was 19 years old.
It was gathered that Victor was severely beaten by his mother at the slightest provocation, which led to deep injuries and cuts all over the boy’s body
According to Mrs. Esther Ogwu, the founder of Esther Child Foundation, she received a call from a resident in Egbeda to come quickly and rescue a boy who was being abused and tortured in the most dehumanising way by his mother. to read more go here
“When we came, said mrs Esther Ogwu we met Victor in the staircase and that was where he usually sleeped. When I saw the wounds on his body, I couldn’t stand it and we had to arrest the woman and bring the boy to the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation to take up the issue,” she explained.
She was told that the woman beat her son severely because her new husband told her that he did not want to see the boy and that she should do something about the situation if she wanted him to stay with her.
Ogwu alleged that the woman’s intention was to kill the boy so that she would keep her new husband, adding that the boy needed urgent treatment and attention so that he would not die from the wounds inflicted on him.
At the Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, WAPA, where the woman and her son were taken , staff of the ministry were in shock when they saw the deep wounds on Victor’s body and could not believe that his mother could do that to him .
When asked if Victor was truly her son, Mrs. Jacob said yes, saying that she regretted her action, admitting that she was guilty of beating her son in such a deadly manner.
She was in tears but her tears did not move officials of the WAPA ministry…
According to Jacob, she gave birth to Victor when she was not yet married and that Victor’s father used to beat and throw her out of the house on several occasions, which was why she left him.
“Anytime he did something wrong,she said… I vent the anger of what his father did to me by beating him. Her new husband had left for South Africa because he did not want to see the boy again.
When asked, little Victor, who managed to speak in Pidgin English said his mother used to beat him with cable when he did something wrong.
However, the state government is considering prosecuting the mother under the child rights law, while Victor would be taken to one of the state’s rehabilitation homes for adequate care.
