southwest Nigeria, are seriously battling to save
the life of an 11-year old girl, Ita Bassey-Eno, who was allegedly set ablaze by the woman she lives with, Mrs Nkese Iroakazi, a nurse at a hospital in Surulere.
Ita Bassey-Eno in critical condition Iroakazi was alleged to have poured kerosene on
Bassey-Eno before lighting a match stick to set
her ablaze after the girl was said to have stolen a piece of meat from the pot.Witnesses said the girl ran out of their apartment at 7, Adeniran Ogunsanya Street, Surulere, unto to the main road with fire all over her body as she cried for help from passers-by to rescue her.
It was gathered that someone quickly stopped his vehicle and used his fire extinguisher to put out the flame on her body.
The incident, which occurred last Saturday, was
immediately reported at the Bode Thomas Police
Station andthe police from the station arrested
Mrs. Nkese The little girl was rushed to the Burns and Trauma Centre, an annex of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital at the General Hospital, Gbagada, for urgent attention as the doctors in the hospital said she had suffered 95 percent burns and would take a miracle for her to survive.
Bassey-Eno's private part was damaged, while
almost all her body is burnt. The whole of her
body, except her face and her feet, are bandaged,
while she wears pampers because herprivate
part was damaged.
On her hospital bed on Monday the little was
groaning in pains while health officials described
Nkese as callous woman and that she must be
made to face the music.
Executive Director, Esther Child Rights Foundation, ECRF, Mrs. Esther Ogwu, who
was at the hospital to see the girl, wept when she
saw her pathetic state, saying that in all her life as human rights activist, she had never come across such a gruesome case asthat of the little girl.
According to Ogwu, the situation is terrible.
The doctor said the girl suffered 95 percent burns
and that her private part has been damaged. This woman is more than wicked. Justice must take its course.
"One of the health officials at the General
Hospital, Gbagada called me and said a woman
poured kerosene on the little girl staying with
her and lit up a match stick and set her ablaze.
The girl ran out of the house to the main road
where a Good Samaritan used her car fire
extinguisher to put out the fire."Little Bassey-Eno, who hails from Akwa Ibom State, southsouth Nigeria, was brought from the
village with another girl, Happiness OkonBassey,13, to live with Nkese in June 2013 on the premose that she would send them to school, but that was not to be as the two girls allegedly performed the function of domestic servants for Nkese.
The second house girl, Okon-Bassey, said she did
not see when her colleague was set ablaze but
that she heard her screaming when their mistress was beating her shortly before the she saw flame all over her body when she ran outside their home.
She alleged that they were maltreatedand beaten thoroughly very often andthat they had no time to rest as they work almost throughout the day for their mistress without going to school,saying that they normally eat twice daily.
Daughter of the alleged culprit, Ijeoma Akiti, 27,
said she was not at home when the incident
occurred andthat she could not tell whether her
mother poured kerosene on the little girl's body
and set her ablaze, but that she heard such story
at the police station.
She said her mother was first married to her
father and later remarried into the family of
Iroakazi and that her mother's husband had gone on a business trip to the eastern part of Nigeria.
At the Bode Thomas Police Station, police sources alleged that the little girl confessed that her mistress poured kerosene on her.
The police at the station said the woman would
be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Panti for further investigation into the matter, but Ogwu alleged that the police
were trying to shield the woman from prosecution.
In her statement at the police station, Iroakazi
denied that she poured kerosene on the little
girl's body and set her ablaze.
According to her, she was in the sitting room
when she heard a loud cry and rushed out only to see the girlon fire and called on people to help
put out the fire.
Officials of the Lagos State Ministry of Women
Affairs and Poverty Alleviation,WAPA, were at
the hospital and the police station where they
spoke with the woman, but she denied the story.
WAPA officials took Okon-Bassey, the second girl
with them for rehabilitation pending when she
would be reconciled with her real mother.
admin pin- 27b1e1b5,www.facebook.com/reportnaija2.com
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment