Just five months after young Glory started living with the Deborah, trader, as her housemaid, the girl has been allegedly brutalised many times and there are so many marks all over her body.
Glory, who had been in the servitude of Deborah in Surulere, Lagos since November 2015, said her elder sister simply took her to the woman at the time during her visit to Akwa Ibom State and said she would follow her to Lagos to be her housemaid.
“Madam said she would put me in school and my sister told me that she would treat me well. The woman is not related to us. I work at home all the time but sometimes when she is not happy with me, she beats me till I cannot walk” Glory said.
The neighbours alerted child rights activists, who promptly notified the police when the little girl would not stop screaming.
Glory, who was later brought to the Aguda Police Division in Surulere, Lagos, along with Deborah, said on that particular day, she was simply eating at the backyard of their house, when her madam accused her of stealing food.
Because of that, Deborah brutalised the girl.
“When she was tired of beating me, she forced my legs apart and rubbed some pepper that she had just ground in my eyes and my bum bum (private part),” she said.
When the pain became unbearable, neighbours raised the alarm when they learnt what the woman did to the girl. Glory, who was sobbing as she was brought to the police station along with her madam, explained that she was very hungry when Deborah caught her eating and became furious.
Glory’s case is one of many similar incidents in which housemaids are being brutalised by madams.
It is unclear under what circumstances Glory was handed over to Deborah.
“Since November that she brought me to Lagos, she has not talked about any school for me,” Glory said.
On Monday she had to be taken to Mirabel Sexual Assault Referral Centre in Ikeja for treatment because she would not stop complaining about the pepper, some of which had become lodged inside her.
The wicked woman, Deborah, claimed that “something just came over me” when she tortured Glory.
“Please, help me. I am so sorry for what I did. I know it is wrong but I just could not control my anger. I promise to take care of her and give her adequate treatment now. I am so sorry for what I did.”
The woman’s husband, Victor, said that he slept too deeply that day that he did not hear as his wife brutalised the girl and put pepper in her private part.
He said, “My wife flogged the girl because she caught her eating in the backyard. I told the girl too that she should not have eaten at the back of the house. I was the one who even prepared the stew.
“I went to sleep later and when I woke up the following morning, I saw all the wounds on the girl’s body. That was when I also knew that she had put pepper in the girl’s private part.
“I did not know that she beat her so badly. I guess I slept too deeply and did not hear the girl’s screaming because of the drug I took that day. I would have intervened.”
Asked how such an underage girl was brought into their home as a housemaid, Victor said that when his wife brought the girl from Akwa Ibom, during a visit to their hometown, he challenged her because the girl was very young.
“I told her the girl was too young, but she said the girl is hardworking and that she would cope. I really blame my wife for what happened but I assure you sir that we would treat her. We would take her to the hospital for treatment and return her to her parents,” he said.
Anyway, Deborah has been charged with child abuse and assault against a minor.
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