Man in the dock for torturing 7-year-old housemaid

This is a clear case of man's inhumanity to a child as a 32-year-old man, one Chinyere Agoura, is now before an Apapa Magistrate’s Court for torturing and maltreating 7-year-old housemaid, Munachi Ibeaka, who is incidentally a cousin of his.

The case which was reported to the police by the mother of the girl, Patricia Ibeaka, a relative of Aguora, who is a widow, has it that he has been in the habit of beating up the girl almost on a daily basis, inflicting various degrees of injuries on her in the process.

Narrating what her daughter has been going through in the hands of her cousin, Mrs. Ibeaka said she was forced to give out Munachi to live with her cousin who stays in the Ajegunle area of Lagos State, in 2013 to relieve her of the burden of taking care of her family of four kids after her husband died and she became a widow with no one to help her.

Instead of Agoura living up to his promise of sending the girl to school and giving her a better life, he instead treated her like an outsider, making life difficult for her, torturing her at will and denying her food anytime she does anything wrong.

It was actually his neighbours who were forced to report the alleged child abuse to the Ajeromi Police Station when the punishment began to tell on Munachi.

It was gathered that the girl’s face had become swollen as of the time Agoura and Patricia were arrested on charges of child abuse after it was revealed that Agoura used to choke the girl with domestic chores and rarely allowed her to go to school.

It was said that teachers had, on several occasions, complained to the Munachi's boss about her absence in the school only to be told that she usually got ill.

The prosecutor in the case, Soji Ojaokomo, preferred two counts bordering on child abuse against the defendants.

The charges read:

"That you, Chinyere Agoura, a resident of Ajegunle and Patricia Ibeaka, in the Apapa Magisterial District, did unlawfully abandon and expose seven-year-old Munachi to danger and caused her grievous harm and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 247 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2011.

That you, Chinyere Agoura, of the above named area, in the aforementioned magisterial district, did possess one Munachi as a slave or in servitude and entered into contract or agreement with one Patricia Ibeaka with or without consideration for doing so and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 274 (9) and (10) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011."

The defendants pleaded not guilty to the offence. The magistrate subsequently admitted them to bail in the sum of N100,000 with two sureties each in like sum while the case was adjourned till January 19, 2015.