Tortured Boy: Mother Goes Into Hiding As Lagos Govt. Vows To Prosecute Father (Photo)

The mother of 16-year-old boy Lekan Isiaka, a victim of
severe domestic abuse in the hands of his father, has
rebuffed every attempt to get her involved in her son’s
issue.

Saturday PUNCH reported last week that Lekan suffered
series of physical abuses in the hand of his father,
Monsuru,which led him to have seizures and a dislocated
shoulder.

Saturday PUNCH attempted to contact her through the
phone number of her new husband, a furniture maker in
Ibadan, to inform her about Lekan’s situation but the
man, who would not identify himself, has only repeated
that “she is out of town.”

When asked to give her direct line so that authorities
handling the boy’s case could contact her, the man
refused.

Saturday PUNCH reported on Saturday, June 6, 2015, that
concerned neighbours alerted activists from the Esther
Child Rights Foundation to Lekan’s case after the boy

started having seizures after consistent brutal beating by
his auto painter father, Monsuru, in Ijegun area of Lagos.

It was reported that Monsuru was arrested and
transferred to the Area M Command Headquarters in
Idimu, Lagos.

Saturday PUNCH learnt that since he was granted bail,
residents have continued to voice concern about the
continued beating by the father.

It was learnt that the day he was released from police
custody, Monsuru, threw the boy inside a muddy pool of
water on the road, accusing him of getting him arrested.

However, the officials of the Office of the Public Defender
of the Lagos State Ministry of Justice visited the Ijegun
residence of Monsuru on Thursday having read about the
plight of the boy in Saturday PUNCH.

Director of OPD, Mrs. Omotola Rotimi, said the agency had
made plans to take Lekan for urgent medical treatment
and rehabilitation and vowed that Monsuru would be
rearrested and charged to court as soon as possible.

She decried the rising cases of severe physical abuse of
children in the state, ascribing the problem to transferred
aggression and poverty.

Rotimi said, “Sometimes, when we get cases of child abuse
like this, if the case is not severe enough to prosecute the
parents for, we sit them down for an hour and hand them
a copy of the Child Rights Law, which they have to read
compulsorily and digest before they leave our office.

“Most times we see cases of mothers who are victims of
domestic abuse in the hands of their husbands

transferring the aggression to their children. When their
husbands hit them once, they hit their children three
times. In other cases, the aggression comes as a result of
poverty.”

Director of the Esther Rights Foundation, Esther Ogwu,
said reports from residents showed Monsuru is planning
to relocate the boy.

“That is something he must not be allowed to do because
the life of Lekan would be in danger,” she said.

Source: PunchNg