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| Mary, Precious. Photo: Peter Dada |
A 28-year-old woman identified as Mary Mathew has been arrested by the men of the Ondo State Police Command for child abuse.
The suspect allegedly caged her
four-year-old foster daughter inside the bush for over five months at
Imafon Village in Akure South Local Government Area of Ondo State.
Mary said she ‘quarantined’ the young
girl identified as Precious Michael when she suspected that the girl was
possessed with witchcraft and also suspected that the four-year-old
girl must have been infected with HIV, which reportedly killed her
mother last year.
The suspect was said to be a relative of
the girl’s late mother and brought the little girl to Imafon in
December 2015 after the death of her mother.
Parading the suspect at the headquarters
of the command in Akure on Thursday, the state Commissioner of Police,
Mrs. Hilda Harrison, said the suspect was arrested following a tip off.
While Mary was paraded, her husband was not, but the police boss said both of them were in their custody.
The commissioner said, “Mary Mathew and
her husband alleged that the girl was possessed and thus decided to lock
her outside the house. On receipt of the information, personnel
attached to Juvenile Welfare Centre of the police command visited the
scene and met the girl in the cage as reported.
“She (the girl) was immediately rescued
and taken to police clinic for medical attention, while the suspects are
under interrogation and will soon be charged to court “
Harrison added that the victim would be
taken to the state welfare home of the Ondo State Ministry of Women
Affairs and Social Welfare.
Also speaking, the police officer at the
JWC of the command, Mrs. Olayemi Ojumu (ASP), who led the team that
rescued the girl, told our correspondent that Precious had actually
tested negative for HIV.
Mary, a farmer and indigene of Enugu State, said she only confined the victim to a corner in her shop.
She said she confined the four-year-old in the morning and released her in the evening whenever she came back from the farm.
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