Aunt assaults niece, 7, with red-hot knife for allegedly stealing gum

For allegedly stealing a neighbour’s chewing gum, a girl has allegedly been beaten and injured with a red-hot knife by her 25-year-old aunt Loveth Ozoihu. Ozoihu, who was arraigned in an Ikeja chief magistrate court yesterday, however, denied the offence. The defendant, who is facing a charge of assault, occasioning harm, was granted a bail […]

For allegedly stealing a neighbour’s chewing gum, a girl has allegedly been beaten and injured with a red-hot knife by her 25-year-old aunt Loveth Ozoihu.

Ozoihu, who was arraigned in an Ikeja chief magistrate court yesterday, however, denied the offence.

The defendant, who is facing a charge of assault, occasioning harm, was granted a bail sum of N200,000 by the chief magistrate, Mrs Olufunke Sule-Amzat, and the case was adjourned to March 7, for trial.

Ozoihu, a resident of Josiah Aina Street, Alakuko, a suburb of Lagos, reportedly beat her 7-year-old niece to pulp, then burnt her with a red-hot knife from a cooking gas fire.

The defendant, according to the police prosecutor, Insp. Benson Emuerhi, committed the offence on Feb. 2, at her residence.

“The defendant was, however, arrested by the police at Alakuko Division, following a tip-off from a neighbour, one Nmasi Okwudili, that they should rescue the victim, who was being abused by her aunt,” Emuerhi said.

He said the defendant beat the victim and used a red-hot knife to burn her buttocks for allegedly stealing her neighbour’s chewing gum.

Emuerhi said the defendant had earlier used a wire to beat the victim for taking fish from her stock and eating it without her knowledge.

The offence, he said, contravened Section 173 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2015 which prescribes a two-year prison term for offenders. (NAN)