While news of fresh cases of brutality on maids are brought to light on daily basis, stories of vicious household workers who unleash mayhem on their employers and in most cases their children also abound. These stories are mostly amplified by the employers to highlight the danger of getting household helps without doing background checks.
It is a known fact that there are many ‘Margaret Joshua ’in at least one out of every 10 homes in the country. Remember Margaret? She is the 11 -years -old girl who died in Jos as a result of alleged physical abuse by her guardian, Mrs. Nneamaka Nwachuku, a Microbiologist who works with one of the Research Institutes in Vom, Jos South local government area of Plateau State.
The victim who is from Kebbi State and was fleeing from insecurity in her community before a supposed helper brought her to Jos to serve in the Nwachukwu’s home.
While Margaret’s case can best be described as a typical example of child abuse, child labour, torture and man’s inhumanity to man. The supposed helper said Mrs. Nwachukwu promised that she was going to register the late maid in a school.”
Some neigbhours of the Nwachukwu’s who preferred not to be named said prior to her death, Margaret’s living condition was disturbing as her frail and malnourished looks, coupled with the marks of violence on parts of her body, pointed to the fact that the 11-year-old Margaret was severely traumatised
Reports had it that despite the agreement reached with the middle person, the alleged abuser and killer of Margaret, a mother of two did not enroll the victim in any school in the over one year that the girl stayed with them but rather, indulged in the daily beating of the helpless girl until she finally died as the result of the assault.
It was gathered that after severely beating her, the girl was forced to sit in a container with hot water which burnt her buttocks. A situation which led to her painful demise in the hospital.
The Plateau State coordinator of the National Human Rights Commission, Mrs. Grace Pam whose office took up the matter then was quoted to have said that based on the number of scars and wounds on the victim’s body, her guardians surely subjected her to a series of torture during the period that she stayed with the family.
Mrs. Grace Pam said, “Our attention was called to the situation by a staff in the hospital where the dangerously beaten 11-year-old girl died. The girl had scars and burns on her body. We were told that she was taken to Mandela hospital in Kaduna Vom before she was referred to come to Jos.
Ruptured Intestines And Tortured In Private Part
This story which broke out some time ago in Anambra State is about a 12-year-old Faith Nwanja who until her adoption was a normal pre-teen with all the hopes and aspirations that come with that age before one childless Mrs. Nkechi Bartholomew showed up with to adopt Faith, an orphan.
In fact, the adoption of the innocent orphan unknown to her, was the beginning of her journey into the house of horror as over time, Faith’s mistress, Nkechi, became her tormentor in chief.
According to reports, Faith was tortured by Nkechi who inserted sticks into Faith’s private parts and would turn it over several times. In the process, her reproductive systems were ruptured leaving Faith needing multiple surgeries.
Faith’s ears were also chopped off, her lips and face badly disfigured by her ‘adopted mother’. According to Faith, it was by sheer luck that one of her eyes was not plucked out as the scare in one of her eyes shows.
Briefing newsmen when the story broke out, head of department, Child Development of the Anambra State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Godwin Igwe, confirmed that the health condition of Faith had worsened.
He said,“The child was battered, dehumanised and subjected to degrading treatment by Mrs Nkechi Barth at Onitsha in February. That child has been undergoing medical examination by a team of expert gynecologists, a team of orthopedic doctors, a team of expert pomologists because of serious harm inflicted on her reproductive system, her hand, her ear, her teeth all over.
“The woman inflicted injuries on all parts of her body. Recently, her medical examination was concluded, and the hospital management said that the report would be released to the police as soon as it is demanded”, he said.
Tortured, Starved , Abused For Breaking A Plate
Handed over by her mother to an agent at the age of 10, Titi was crammed into a truck in the tiny West African nation of Benin and driven across the border into southwest Nigeria.
Titi feared the worst. She recalled how a previous employer in Nigeria had welcomed her with a thin mat and a leather whip.
“Sometimes, she beat us,” said Titi, recounting the businesswoman who had flogged the girls for the smallest mishaps, such as breaking a plate. Sometimes, she didn’t give us breakfast till after 1 p.m
Horrible Injuries On The Face
A deep gash on her forehead tells it all. The journey of Abigail Opebiyi, 15, was not such a pleasant one in the hands of her employer, Tolu Ola, a lawyer.
The gash on Abigail’s face generated serious outrage on social media and prompted the Lagos State Police command to arrest Ola for inflicting bodily injury on Abigail. Although, Abigail’s offence was not disclosed by the Police in Lagos State who swiftly moved to arrest Ola before further damage could be done to Abigail.
On November 26, 2019, an 11-year-old maid, who was allegedly assaulted and fed with cockroaches and faeces by her madam, was rescued by an activist, Gwamnishu Harrison, in Awka, Anambra State. She was rescued from a dungeon where she laid helpless with wounds and scars all over her face and body and immediately taken to Amaku General Hospital in Awka for medical attention.
Disclosing how it happened, Gwamnishu wrote: “A concerned citizen reached out to us on the case of an 11-year-old house girl locked up, beaten up and fed with cockroaches and faeces. We quickly swung into action, got to Awka and rescued the little girl from the dungeon where she laid helpless with septic wounds and scars all over her body.”
On January 23, 2020, officers of the Rivers State police command interrogated a middle-aged woman, Madam Blessing Tamunokoru, for allegedly inserting pepper into the private part of a 14-year-old housemaid. It was gathered that based on complaints from neighbours to the police over the inhuman treatment meted out to her maid, detectives attached to the Central Police Station, Port Harcourt Township arrested Tamunokoru.
The neighbours, who constantly witnessed the regular abuse of the housemaid by Tamunokoru alerted a human rights organisation. The suspect, however, denied inserting pepper into the girl’s private part, but admitted to flogging and inflicting wounds on her, which she claimed was to make her disciplined.
The 14-year-old victim said her madam used wire to flog her and sometimes poured hot water on her legs to inflict injuries on her wounds for not being able to sell all the kerosene given to her to hawk around the market. The state chairman of the Civil Rights Council, Prince Wiro, who was alerted to the girl’s situation, recalled that he saw the girl weeping and hawking kerosene.
A nursing mother, Folake Ogunrinu, was arrested by operatives of the Oyo State police command for allegedly lacerating her 10-year-old maid with a razor blade in the Sanyo area of Ibadan. The suspect, who had accused the victim of stealing her baby’s milk, in a bid to discipline her, subjected the girl to torture by allegedly using a razor blade to lacerate her on the back and hand, leaving the girl with severe injuries.
An eyewitness, who pleaded anonymity, while condemning the action of the nursing mother, said the maid ran out of the house to get help from neighbours when she could no longer withstand the pain from the torture.
On Thursday, February 20, 2020, in another incident, an Ogba Magistrates’ Court in Lagos ordered a housewife, Mrs. Esther Ijeoma Amechi, to provide medical attention to her house-help, Mrs. Joy Kanu, who suffered various degrees of injuries after she assaulted her. Magistrate O.D. Njoku issued the order after taking arguments from counsel and the complainant, the International Charitable Initiative for Girl Child and Women Development Foundation (ICI-GWODEF).
Joy Kanu, 43, is a mother of nine consisting of three sets of twins and a triplet. Magistrate Njoku also ordered the defendant, Mrs. Amechi, to attend to the broken limbs and the wound on the head of Joy Kanu and other forms of treatment in the hospital for the next three months after which the court will determine whether or not to proceed with the case or go for settlement.
Recall also that on January 14, 2020, an 18-year-old lady identified as Abigail Felix, took her life in the Alausa, Ikeja area of Lagos. Abigail, who is from the Republic of Benin, was said to have taken the deadly DD insecticide and left no suicide note. According to a police source, Abigail, who moved in with her employers, the family of one Akinrinmade two years ago, was responsible for cleaning the house and attending to customers at her madam’s shop.
A day before her death, Abigail had reportedly left the house without informing anyone of her whereabouts. After searching for her with no result, a case of a missing person was lodged at the nearest police station. The next day, Abigail snuck into one of the rooms in the house and when interrogated, she failed to disclose where she was the previous night.
She ran into another room where she locked herself in and refused to open the door. Efforts to get her out failed until the door was pulled down and she was found with foamy substances around her mouth with a bottle of the DD insecticide by her side. She was immediately rushed to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) where she died as doctors battled to save her life. The police are yet to establish any link though between her death and maid maltreatment.
Beside physical assault and torture, there is the also commonplace sexual exploitation of maids by ‘ogas’ and ‘madams’.
By law, children are not supposed to be ‘employed as domestic help outside (their) home. The penalty for this is a fine not exceeding N50,000 or imprisonment for a term of five years or both. But because the issue of underage domestic help is so rampant, it is unlikely that you will be arrested for breaching this law except if there is an established case of assault, but be aware that
LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered that it is a criminal offence in all parts of Nigeria, to employ, recruit, transport, harbour, receive or hire any human being in Nigeria that is less than 12 years old as a house-help, maid, domestic worker or staff member of any appellation. This offence is punishable with imprisonment for not less than six months but not more than seven years. Apart from the Nigeria police, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) can entertain such cases with sections 23(1) (a) and 82 of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015.”
Credit:Leadership
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