Photos: Barren Woman Brutalises Niece, As Female DPO Officer Weeps On Sighting Toddler

The police in Lagos have arrested a housewife, Grace Monday,
for allegedly torturing her three-year-old niece, Miracle Peter, to a coma.

It was learnt that Monday allegedly flogged the victim for
several hours at their home in the Ireodun, Agege area of Lagos State and
subsequently slammed her head against a wall causing the toddler to faint.

The offence of the toddler was that she always messed up the
room with excreta.

Monday had been married for seven years without a child and
had travelled to Kaduna sometime in July, 2015, to get the victim from her
elder brother. It was learnt that the toddler was always messing up the house
with excrement and after verbal correction did not work, the suspect resorted
to beating her.

On the day the toddler was beaten to a coma, she was rushed
to a private hospital and was later referred to a general hospital in the state
for intensive care.

Monday’s neighbour, Adijat Fatai, said she had warned her on
several occasions to stop flogging the victim.

She said, “Miracle (Peter) 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.”

It was gathered that the landlord, Fatai Alimi, reported the
matter at the Isokoko Police Division.

He alleged that Monday had inflicted several injuries on the
body of the victim, adding that she slammed Peter’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,” he added.

Alimi, who said Peter was placed on oxygen, added that she
was incapacitated by the torture.

But a friend of the suspect, Alice Abuye, claimed that
Monday did not slam her niece’s head against the wall.

Abuye, who claimed to be a confidante of the suspect, said
she (Monday) had called her to express her frustration with Peter’s incessant
defecation.

“Grace (Monday) 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.”

Abuye however said the victim had been discharged from the
hospital and released to the family.

But the Divisional Police Officer, Isokoko Police Division,
Badmos Dolapo, said she was in tears after seeing the victim.

“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.

It was also learnt that the Lagos State Office of the Public
Defender had taken custody of the victim.

The Public Relations Officer of the OPD, Adeoba
Adeniji-Adele, who spoke for the Director of the agency, Mrs. Omotola Rotimi,
said the victim could no longer walk.

Punch