The Imo State Police Command has arrested 38-year-old businesswoman Juliet Igwe for allegedly using candlelight to burn the private parts of her six-year-old female maid, simply identified as Onyinyechi.
Apart from inflicting injuries on the minor’s vagina, Mrs Igwe poured hot water on her hands, which peeled off the skin, and equally used candle wax to scald her body.
Parading the suspect at the command headquarters in Owerri, the state capital, on Wednesday, the command’s spokesperson, Henry Okoye, disclosed that the woman’s arrest followed intelligence received by operatives of the Ideato North police divisional headquarters.
He commended the president and founder of Stand for Humanity Foundation, Chidiebube Okeoma.
Okoye, who described the woman’s act as despicable and totally unacceptable, disclosed that the suspect would have her day in court at the conclusion of the investigation.
He disclosed that the state commissioner of police, Aboki Danjuma, who is unhappy with the dastardly act, had directed the deputy commissioner of police in charge of the State Criminal Investigations Department to investigate the matter and charge the suspect to court.
Okoye also commended Okeoma and his foundation for taking responsibility for the medical and welfare conditions of the minor.
When interviewed, the suspect, who said that she inflicted the injuries on the minor, told journalists that she didn’t know that the use of candle wax and boiled water on the girl child were going to cause grievous damage to her.
She accused the child of stealing meat from her pot, adding that she only battered her so as to forestall future recurrence.
