A teenager, Ijeoma Michael, is currently fighting for her life at the Garki Hospital, Abuja, after her sister, Precious, allegedly scalded her body with hot water for going out.
It was gathered that 15-year-old Ijeoma had gone out about three weeks ago after she was warned by Precious not to do so.
Upon Ijeoma’s return, Precious poured hot water on her, while she was serving punishment for disobeying her. However, our correspondent learnt that their mother, Mabel refused to take the victim to hospital on the grounds that she did not want the police to be involved.
It was gathered that the matter was reported at the Karimo Police Station by a non-governmental organisation, the Dorothy Njemanze Foundation, and the mother and the sister were arrested.
The Lead Case Manager of the organisation, Positive Okorie, told our correspondent that Ijeoma was rushed to the hospital, where surgery was performed on her.
She said, “A lady sent us a message on Facebook yesterday morning (Sunday); she sent pictures and no one will see those pictures and not respond. With the help of the lady who sent the message, I went to the Karimo Police Station to make a formal report about the incident and two policemen followed us to the victim’s house in the Angwa Shehu community.
“The sister and the mother were arrested and when we got to the police station, the sister said that the victim was stubborn and that she was asked not to go out, but she went out; but the victim said she was asked not to go out and she went out, but when she came back, she was asked to serve some punishment and while serving the punishment, the sister asked her to boil water for her to bathe, which she did and went back to continue with the punishment.
“While she was serving the punishment, her sister scooped from the hot water and poured it on her and while she was running helter-skelter, her sister poured more hot water on her back and when she attempted to pour the hot water for the third time, the victim said she pushed a locker down which attracted their mother, who packed sand from the ground and poured on her body in an attempt to cool off the heat.
“The mother kept quiet after the incident and she didn’t take the victim to hospital; she only took her to a chemist shop, where she was given tetanus injection and Ampiclox. She said she didn’t take her to hospital, because she did not want to get the police involved because of the extent of burns on her body.”
Okorie said the suspects denied pouring hot water on the victim intentionally, adding that they claimed that it happened by mistake.
Speaking on the treatment of the victim, Okorie said Ijeoma was only attended to after she had signed an undertaking that the medical bill would be settled before her discharge.
She added, “I’m sitting right in front of the theatre and she’s having surgery to correct some of the places the hot water had scalded. The surgery costs about N250,000; I just had to sign an undertaking that the money will be paid on or before she is discharged. I don’t know how that will play out.
“When I asked how much money would be needed, I was told that about N450,000 excluding her feeding; surgery is taking N250,000 and the ward she will stay in is N13,000 per night and we don’t know how long she will stay. For us in the organisation, her health and how to clear her medical bill is our concern because I just signed an undertaking that her bill will be cleared on or before her discharge.”
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Federal Capital Territory, Mariam Yusuf, in a terse text message said the command was investigating the matter.
“We are investigating ma,” she stated.
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