Woman, younger brother burn housemaid with hot iron for rejecting garri meal •She is too stubborn -Suspect •I have interest in the case —CP

A 56-year-old woman and her younger brother have been accused of torturing a 16-year-old maid with a hot iron.

The woman, Alhaja Fatima Williams, a resident of Allen Avenue area of Ikeja, however, claimed that the maid was too lazy and that she was not working for the money being paid her.

The two suspects have been arrested by the police at Ikeja divisional police station, after the plight of the girl wss reported to divisional police officer in charge of the station.

The woman told the police that she got the house maid from an agent, John, who brings young girls from the Republic of Benin to Nigeria to serve as househelp.

The woman, in her statement to the police, claimed that “the girl is too stubborn and always wee on the bed and each time I try to correct her, she would start abusing me.”

She also added that “on that fateful day, because I asked her to kneel down as a punishment for refusing to carry out house chores, she went into the kitchen and attempted to consume a local insecticide that I kept in the kitchen.

“My younger brother who was ironing his cloth then tried to wrest the poison from her. It was in the process of trying to collect the insecticide from her that he flogged her severally with cane. She also got burnt by the hot iron during the struggle.”

The victim, Kemi Leona, however, denied the claims by her boss, stating that she was battered with hot iron for “Uncle Waliu then started flogging me with a wire. Not satisfied, he went inside and plugged a pressing iron, when it became so hot, Uncle Waliu started using it on me. I ran out of the house when I could not bear the pains anymore,” the girl said.

She added that the woman had not paid her since she started working for her since January, adding that “anytime I ask her, she will say that she has paid the sum of N10,000 to the man who brought her.”

The state police boss, Fatai Owoseni, speaking on the incident, said the two arrested suspects would soon be charged to court.

He described the case as a “man inhumanity to man” and wondered how the woman should have allowed the girl to be beaten to that state.

“I would personally see to the end of this case because it is a human interest case. I have ordered my men to charge them to court,” the Lagos CP said.