Operatives of the Lagos State police command said they have arrested a woman who was accused of locking her 14-year-old housemaid in toilet anytime she is leaving for church.
The incident happened at an apartment at Baruwa Estate, Ipaja, Lagos.
The police alleged that the employer, Mabel Okechukwu, locked the girl, whose name they wouldn’t disclose, up in her toilet when leaving for church last Sunday, adding it was a neighbour who witnessed what happened that invited the police.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal, who briefed the press on the issue yesterday, said,
“The arrest took place based on the complaint made by a concerned neighbour on November 4, 2018, at about 1.30pm. The Divisional Police Officer of the Ipaja Division raced to the house. On arrival, they met the entrance locked and forced the door open to rescue the victim.
“The child narrated her ordeal that the suspect had been maltreating her since she started living with her. On close examination by the Command’s Gender personnel, wounds were seen all over the victim’s body.”
Okechukwu, however, denied the allegations. In her defence, she said that the teenager, who she disclosed had been living with her for six months, was not her maid but an in-law.
“The girl attends the same school as my children and I will never do anything to hurt her. I only punished her by locking her up because she always felt reluctant to go to church anytime we were preparing to do so. I have no intention to hurt her,” she said.
Edgal, however, said that the suspect would be charged to court immediately investigation was over.