A landlord identified simply as Michael has allegedly poured hot water on an 11-year-old girl identified only as Princess.
It was gathered that the incident happened on Saturday in Mowe, Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State.
Following the incident, the sister of a tenant in the house, who gave her name as Ejiro, said her sister had planned to leave the apartment which she rented.
She noted that this was due to the fear of being beaten by the landlord who had allegedly made it a habit to beat the girl and her mother when she (mother) was still with the man.
“I am here to see my sister at Baba Ticket area, Oniru Phase 3, Mowe. My sister told me her landlord beats the daughter of his estranged wife. I thought it was a normal beating, but last Thursday, I heard the sound of someone throwing punches at somebody.
“I asked who was being punched. A neighbour told me it was the landlord punching his daughter. When we rushed there, we saw that he held a whip and was beating her. When I asked him why he was beating her, he said the girl refused to go to school.
“We begged him to stop and he did. On Friday morning, he still beat the girl. My sister has said she is planning to pack out of the apartment because the landlord may descend on his tenants too one day and she may be a victim.
“This (Monday) morning, I saw injuries on the girl’s body. I was so scared. He had poured hot water on the girl’s body on Saturday. The girl’s brother told us that when they were hungry, they told the man, and he in turn asked the girl to put water on the stove.
“Then he began beating her and when the water was hot, he poured it on her body. We heard her screams that night,” Ejiro told our correspondent.
She added that there was also a day the man beat the girl for three hours because she ate bread.
When contacted, Princess’ mother, Grace Ojile, said the man had always been beating the little girl.
“(He poured) hot water on her body. If you see the back, it’s all burnt. He inflicted injury on her head last week, I just heard that. I’m with her at the hospital,” a worried Ojile said.
In pictures obtained by our correspondent, scars suspected to be from the hot water injury were seen on parts of Princess’ arm.
Princess, who spoke from the hospital bed on Monday night, said, “He poured hot water on me on Saturday; boiled water.”
Details of why the landlord had been allegedly abusing the girl is still sketchy as of press time, but a source in the Ogun State Police Command said the man claimed Princess was beaten because she refused to go school.
“He said the girl was seen roaming about when she was supposed to be in school and that the girl had said she was not interested in going to school again. But if she had said that, it shows that something is wrong somewhere and treating her like that was not the way forward.”
It was learned that the matter was reported by a concerned resident at the Mowe Police Station.
The Mowe Divisional Police Officer of the station, Afeniforo Folake, said the suspect had been detained, adding that the matter would be transferred to the state Criminal Investigation Department, Eleweran, for further investigation.
The DPO said, “I have arrested the man and detained him. The man overreacted. The girl has been discharged from the hospital and the case has been transferred to the state CID.”