The leg and arm of a 4-year-old girl, Risikat Fayomi have been broken by her grandmother, identified simply as Ayinke, aka Iya Adijat, on Canaan Land Estate in the Matogun area of Ogun State for urinating on a prayer mat.
She was afterwards locked up by the woman in a room before a passerby heard her groaning with pain.
According to Punch, efforts by residents, who besieged the house, to gain entrance were futile, as the doors and windows were locked.
It took the intervention of policemen from the Ajuwon Division to get the doors broken and the victim rescued.
She was immediately rushed to Tamara Medical Centre, a private facility on Ajuwon Road, in the Akute area.
It was gathered that the nurses and doctors at the hospital battled hard to get Risikat back to life as she had been incapacitated by the torture.
A doctor at the hospital, who did not want to be identified told the newspaper that Risikat had been singing a song since she regained her strength.
He said, “She was brought here by the police and people of the community. Then, she was in serious pains and could not walk or talk. Her back, hands and legs were swollen.
“We commenced treatment immediately and after an X-ray, we discovered that she had fractures. It took three days to get the pains to subside. Despite that, she still feels a lot of pain when you touch the arm and leg.
“We have decided to transfer her to the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, in Lagos. Since she was brought here on March 3, we have been spending our money to treat her.”
A nurse at the hospital explained further that Risikat also suffered malnutrition.
She said the hospital had also been responsible for her feeding, adding that her relatives had not shown any concern.
“Whenever we asked her if she would return home, she would start crying and begging that she did not want to go back home,” she added.
A Chief in the community, Adewunmi Oyebode, explained that the girl had been beaten for allegedly urinating on a prayer mat.
He said, “The girl is not staying with her parents. Her mother abandoned her with the father when she was barely one year old. Since the girl’s father did not have a stable job, he in turns took her to the grandfather.
“The young man’s mother is dead and his father has a second wife, who we all call Iya Adijat [Ayinke].
“Iya Adijat is her step grandmother. The woman had been maltreating her.
“Whenever she went for Arabic class and they close at 6pm, she would not want to return home. If you tell her to go home, she would start crying.
“I learnt that the step grandmother had instructed that whenever they were observing the Islamic prayers, nobody should leave the prayer mat.
“So, the girl became pressed and since she could not leave the mat, she urinated on the mat. After the prayer, she descended on her.”
Oyebode explained that Ayinke, later put Risikat in a room and locked her inside.
He said a herbalist, who lived close to the house, heard the groan of the victim and raised the alarm.
“We called the police and they broke down the door and rescued the child. We discovered that her hands and a leg had been fractured. There were stripe marks on her body. When we were taking her to the hospital on a motorcycle, she was groaning with pain.”
He said the hospital was awaiting the payment of its N30,000 bill before referring the victim to the Igbobi Orthopaedic Hospital for further treatment.
He added that the community had started a manhunt for the suspect.
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