12-year-old Precious Nwali, an indigene of Ebonyi State was reportedly dehumanised by the woman she is leaving with at Nzekwe Street, near Akwata meat market, Awka, Anambra State for allegedly stealing the sum of N26,000 from her house.
Information gathered by our Correspondent has it that the mistress, Mrs Charity Effiong on discovering the theft allegedly stripped her house help naked and applied cameeoun pepper in her private part.
She subsequently drove the primary four pupil out of her house around 10.30pm.
It was gathered that the victim was later found by a good Samaritan while crying and wandering along the market.
Narrating her ordeal, the victim with bruises on her body, said she had suffered several maltreatment in the hands of her mistress.
She said, “She always flogs me with cable wire. She has her own children but she rarely beats them nor send them to any errand,” she wept soberly.
Speaking to journalists, the woman that picked the house maid up, Mrs. Amaka Okoye, said it took her about thirty minutes to wash off the grinded pepper in her private part.
On his part, Pastor Effiong Inyang, who linked her up with the mistress, said the victim’s parents requested she stayed with her following the family’s predicament.
“All her siblings are being given out because her parents are struggling to survive due to the condition of the family.
“The father has been under severe pain having sustained injuries after several falls from the palm tree”, he stated.
While condemning the actuon of Nwali”s boss, he said he had already contacted the victim’s parents who had requested she be brought back to them.
Reacting to the incident, the Secretary, Anambra State Child Protection Network, Lady Hope Okoye, described the action as a total violation to the state child right act of 2004.
She added, “Stuffing Cameroon pepper in a girl’s private part is another level of abuse which has psychological, physical and emotional consequences.
“I don’t know why this should be swept under the carpet for a woman to afford to do this inhumane treatment on the little child.”
A police source however said that the suspect had been detained on the order of the DPO in charge of the Central Police Station, Awka.
The source said, “It was not long after the matter was reported in the police station that the madam appeared, claiming the housemaid was abducted.”
Confirming the incident, the state Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, SP Haruna Mohammed, said the suspect denied applying pepper in the victim’s private part.
His words, “He claimed that the victim stole the sum of N26,000 from her house, and that she removed her undies in the course of searching for the money.
According to him, the girl has been reunited with her mother while the suspect is charged to court for assault.
