Child Abuse: How Woman Tortured 17-Year-Old Orphan, Injured Her Eyes

A woman has been accused of locking up a 17-year-old girl with goats and torturing her mercilessly in Jos.

EKO GOT BLOG reports that the 17year-old minor was leaving with her aunts who maltreated her and locked her up in a cage for days.

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The issue got to the Police when neighbours raised alarm to National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in Jos and she was rescued from the aunt.

Police in Jos, Plateau State, rescued the girl after she have been starved and beaten mercilessly by the aunts whom she was living with.

By the time the girl was rescued, she was already starved and looking malnourished after she was locked in a goat cage without care.

The incident happened in Rikkos community, Jos North Local Government Area of the state.

According to reports, the girl is an orphan who once lived with her grandmother but had to leave because the grandmother became ill and could not take care of her again.

Narrating the ugly incident, the Coordinator of the NHRC in Plateau, Mrs Grace Pam, revealed that the neighbour who alerted their office said the aunt locked the 17-year-old girl in a balcony without food.

In her words, “The commission received information from an anonymous complainant that the girl was locked up on the balcony of a house by her aunt.”

“She was living with her grandmother before she came to the aunt’s house because the grandmother was ill and could not continue to care for her.”

“The complainant alleged that the aunt travelled for close to a week and left the girl without food.”

“Investigation revealed that the girl was truly malnourished and had scars on her hands, neck and other parts of her body.

Mrs Pam also stated that there were marks all over the body of the girl when she was rescued but she is now receiving medical care.

“The marks resulted from incessant beatings she received from her aunt. The matter was reported to the police where the aunt’s statement was taken upon return from her trip.

“The girl has been provided with temporary shelter until she recovers. We also found out that the orphan girl was never allowed to go out, but locked up in the house and not fed.

“She has been taken to hospital by one of our partners to ensure proper medical care,’’ she said

While lamenting the reoccurring cases of child abuse and abuse of minors in the last few days in the state, Mrs Pam mentioned that other cases are being treated with caution.

She narrated how a nine-year-old girl was maltreated by her aunts whom she visited within two months.

“..there is a case of another victim, a nine-year-old girl, who came to stay with her aunt barely two months ago.”

“We had to rescue her on Thursday from her aunt; she beat her mercilessly, but thank God, she did not get her blind, but got her injured in the eye.

“We took her to the hospital on Friday with scars resulting from serious beatings.