A 7-year-old child has been administered hot water bath and hot candle wax at different times by her guardian, Mrs Juliet Igwe who accused her of stealing in Imo State, South East.
The inhuman treatment melted on the fatherless child identified as Onyeachi, occurred in Idiator Loca Government Area of the State.
The brutal assault which began in 2024, caught the Nigeria Police Command operatives, who rescued the victim and arrested the 38-year-old suspect.
In a viral video he shared on social media, the Command’s spokesman, Henry Okoye who confirmed Juliet arrest and condemned the act.
The police spokesman revealed that the victim was began to live with Juliet in 2024 when the father of the victim who is a brother-in-law to Juliet’s husband, died.
Okoye explained that the victim has been taken to the Federal Medical Centre, FMC in Imo State for urgent treatment of the high degree burn as a result of the assault.
According to him, “The Imo State Police Command has arrested a 38-year-old suspect, Juliet Igwe for involving herself in various forms of serious assault on a 7-year-old child, Onyeachi who has lost her father”.
“Since the death of her father, Juliet has been mistreating the minor”, Okoye, while recalling the incident said, “recently, she (Juliet) carried Onyeachi both hands and dipped them in a hot boiling water”.
He also said, “the victim suffered high degree burns. She also went further to use hot candle wax and inflicted injury on her body”.
“This injury extends to her private part. This is high level of man’s inhumanity to man”, according to Okoye.
In an interview, the criminal suspect, confessed to the alleged crime and admitted that the victim’s father is her husband’s late brother.
Commenting on the investigation, the police image maker said the Commissioner of Police, CP Aboki Danjuma, has directed the State Criminal Investigative Department, SCID to commence a thorough investigation into the crime and ensure that the suspect involved is brought to book”.