A Police Officer’s wife, Precious Joseph, has been jailed for two years for violently abusing her nine-year-old house help, Agatha Emmanuel, in Okwe area of Asaba, Delta State.
The Police Officer’s wife was not given an option of fine in a ruling delivered on Monday.
P.O. Obayuwana, the Chief Magistrate of Court 11, Okwe Magisterial District, Delta State jailed Joseph for using a hot kitchen knife to disfigure her victim’s mouth.
The accused faced a two count charge in Charge No: OMC/118C/2020: “That you Precious Joseph ‘f’ on 31st day of July 2020 at Iyasele Street, Okwe, in Okwe Magisterial District did unlawfully assaulted one Agatha Emmanuel ‘f’ by causing her harm with hot knife on her mouth and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 355 of the Criminal Code Law, Cap C21 vol.1 Laws of Delta State of Nigeria 2006.
“That you Precious Joseph ‘f’ on the same date, time and place in the aforementioned Magisterial District, did threatened violence with kitchen knife on Agatha Emmanuel ‘f’ and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 86 (2) of the Criminal Code Law Cap C21 vol.1 Laws of Delta State of Nigeria 2006.”
The Chief Magistrate therefore sentenced Joseph to two years in prison without an option of fine.
The case of child abuse was reported at the ‘B’ Division Police Station at Okwe by a neighbour, Simeon Morba, who saw the deep injury on Agatha’s mouth while fetching water that same morning and on enquiry was told it was her aunt that inflicted it on her.
Morba then went to ask Joseph why she did that, but engaged him in a fight, leading to the reporting of the matter to the police.
Joseph in her statement to the police stated that she burnt Agatha’s mouth because she took meat from the pot of soup against her warning.
She confessed that the girl is her brother’s daughter, whom she travelled to her village in Cross River State to request that she comes to live with her to take care of her three young children to enable her focus on her business.
However, the Delta State Child Rights Implementation Committee, which immediately took custody of the victim, followed up in court, where the nine-year-old Emmanuel got justice.
In her comment, the representative of the Child Rights Implementation Committee in court, Awele Ideal, said once again justice had been served to act as deterrent to persons who deal violently with children in their custody.
Meanwhile, the father of the girl had arrived Delta State and after all the formalities, the Ministry of Women Affairs then handed over his daughter to him on Tuesday.
Source: theeagleonline.com.ng
