The Punch reports that the three year old Miracle Peter was living with her parents in Kaduna before her aunt, Grace came to take her to the Ireodun, Agege area of Lagos in July. Grace who had been married for seven years without a child had verbally warned the toddler to stop messing the room with faeces to no avail. She started beating the child each time she defecated.
Adijat Fatai, Grace’s neighbour said she had warned her to stop beating the toddler.
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“Miracle always defecated all over the house. I called Grace and advised her to be patient with the little girl because it could be that God was using the girl to test her patience.
“Sometime in October, I saw her cleaning the child up after she had defecated; she was beating her as well. I warned her three different times to stop flogging her because it was getting excessive. She didn’t listen to me and I immediately suspected she was under a spell.
“I told her husband to caution her but he told me Miracle’s father instructed them to beat her till she stopped purging. I left them and went inside my room. It was the following morning she came to call me that the girl had fainted.”
Fatai Alimi, the landlord reported the matter to Isokoko police division and said Grace slammed the girl’s head against the wall.
“We rushed her to a private hospital and I had to borrow money for her to be admitted and treated because the hospital management said we must deposit some money. She spent three days at the hospital. When they could no longer handle it, they referred her to a general hospital.”
Alice Abuye, Grace’s friend however claimed she did not slam the toddler’s head against the wall.
“Grace loves little children. Unfortunately, she had been married for seven years without any issue. She said I should release my child to her so she could train her till she got her own but I refused. I told her to go to her village and get her relative’s child.
“On the night preceding the incident, she called me that the girl had started defecating again. After beating her, Miracle (Peter) told her if she confessed the reason for her misbehaviour, some spiritual forces would punish her. Grace and her husband prayed till 3am after hearing that.
“Around 8am, she woke up and saw that Miracle was still sleeping. She woke her up to give her a bath. She was about leaving the house when she saw the girl had hit her head against the wall. Grace did not touch her.”
Badmos Dolapo who is the divisional police officer, Isokoko police division said she was touched by the incident.
“In all my years in the police force, I have never cried. But seeing the damage that had been done to this child, I could not hold back tears; I wept like a baby. She had been brutalised. We will not leave any stone unturned in this case,” she said.
Adeoba Adeniji-Adele, the public relations officer of the office of the public defender said Miracle could not walk again.
He said: “We want members of the public to be prompt in reporting cases of abuse like this. It is mandatory under the law to report child abuse and failure to do that now attracts imprisonment of about two years. We all must join hands to end this menace in our society.”
The office of the public defendant in Lagos has made several awareness to the people to report domestic violence and other unruly acts especially crimes that do not get reported all the time.
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