A 31-year-old woman, Shade Adelowo has been arrested by the police in Ogun State for allegedly using a razor blade to inflict injuries on the body of an 11-year-old boy, Kehinde Ojo, son of her neighbour.
Adelowo had on Sunday accused the boy of stealing a sum of N3,000 from her purse, the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, told newsmen on Monday.
The suspect, a mother of two, living at Giwa Oke-Aro area of Agbado, was nabbed following a report lodged at Agbado police station, by the victim’s mother.
It was learnt that the mother had reported that the suspect accused her son of stealing her money and had inflicted injuries on him with a razor blade.
After the report, the DPO of the Agbado division, CSP Kehinde Kuranga, was said to have detailed detectives to the scene to arrest the suspect.
“On interrogation, the woman claimed that the victim who used to stay with her whenever his mother is not around, stole N3,000 from her purse and that she did not know what came over her to inflict such grievous injuries on the boy,” Oyeyemi said.
He added that the suspect claimed that she had been taking care of the boy and his twin brother for a while, adding that the incident was the “devil’s handiwork.”
Oyeyemi said preliminary investigation had revealed that the victim’s mother had been abandoned by her husband, with three children.
The woman, Oyeyemi said, engaged in menial jobs to cater for her children, whom she used to keep under the care of the suspect whenever there was the need to go out for work.
“She stated further that it was a thing of surprise for her when she saw what the suspect did such to her son because she had been very good to her in the past,” it was said.
While disclosing that the victim had been taken to hospital for treatment, Oyeyemi added that Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, has ordered the immediate transfer of the suspect to the anti-human trafficking and child labour unit.