7 guardians docked in FCT family court over child abuse

Seven persons have been arraigned in an FCT family court for allegedly an abusing their wards, the Gender Department of the FCT Social Development Secretariat said. The director of the department, Dr. Agnes Hart, expressed concern over the rising cases of child abuse in the territory and stressed that the department handles an average of […]

Seven persons have been arraigned in an FCT family court for allegedly an abusing their wards, the Gender Department of the FCT Social Development Secretariat said.

The director of the department, Dr. Agnes Hart, expressed concern over the rising cases of child abuse in the territory and stressed that the department handles an average of four assault cases a week.

She made this known while quizzing some guardians who were arrested over abuse of children under their care.

She warned that the full weight of the law would be applied to anyone found guilty of molesting children.

“Here in the FCT, we have a sexual and gender base response team, and we have zero tolerance for any form of abuse against any resident, let alone violence against a child. Nobody in the FCT can molest a child and go scot free.

“The Child Right Act 2003 is very clear on that, every child has the right to life, right to quality education, right to healthcare and other fundamental human rights as enshrined in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and we are here to protect the interest of the child to the letter.

“This week alone we have received four cases of child abuse and violence against children and this has been the trend. We have seven of such cases in the FCT family court and we are going to follow through with all of them,” she added.