12 year old Kafayat Kareem was battered by her father who used barb wire to beat her mercilessly for defending her mother during one of her parent’s fight at their home in Orile Iganmu, Lagos. Kafayat’s father pounced on his wife after he discovered she used his money to play lottto. Kafayat, who is a Junior Secondary School 1 student at Canal Secondary School, Orile, Lagos, said if not for the timely intervention of vigilante people who found her writhing in pain inside the market, she would have died.
She narrated her experience to TheNation
“I live with my parents at 4 Kuforiji Street, Orile. On July 7th, I ran away from home after receiving severe beating from my father. My offence was that I tried to stop him from beating my mother. My father accused my mother of using his hard earned money to play lotto game and he descended on her with anything he could lay his hands on. My father alleged that my mother loves patronizing lotto game and he beat her up mercilessly and broke her knees. Despite my mother’s cry for help, none of our neighbours came to her rescue because they are afraid of my father.
I could not bear the beating anymore and I begged my father to stop beating my mother. He became furious and pounced on me.
This is not the first time my father will beat my mother and I. I have lost count of his endless beatings. On one occasion, I begged my mother to relocate four of us her children to Ilorin so we can stay away from our father due to his constant beating. I am the first child but my mother said my father will change but he has gotten worse by the day. My mother is presently on admission at the Charity Hospital at Orile following the beating my father gave her.
I could not stand his beating anymore and I ran away from home to meet one of my mother’s friends at Oyingbo market but I did not meet her when I got to the market. I was in great pains and I decided to sleep in the market because I do not want to go back to my father’s house. It was while I was sleeping at the market that some vigilante men came and rescued me. I told them my plight and they took me to the hospital where I am presently receiving treatment”Also speaking, the secretary of the Vigilante group of Nigeria at Ebutte Metta where Kafayat was found, said after seeing the girl in so much pain, he mobilzed for her to be taken to a nearby hospital to receive medical attention
“On July 7th about 4am, I received a report from our members patrolling the Oyingbo market along the railway line that they found a girl laying in pains in one of the stalls. I told them to bring her to our office and when I saw her body, I asked her what happened and she told me that her father beat her with barb wire. I quickly mobilized and took her to the Star Clinic at Ebute- Metta where she is receiving treatment the wound on her body had become sores and I wonder what type of a father will beat a child like that. I took her to the Iponri police station to report the battering but the policemen there turned me back that they do not handle such a case. I took her to the Area C police Command at Surulere and the police there refused to attend to us. They told me to take her to the office of the Public defender. I have been running around with this girl since morning to get the necessary authority to look into this matter and arrest the father but they have refused to take the case,” the man said.
Source:The Nation
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