Policeman’s wife batters 10-year-old niece for selling a recharge card of N1,000 for N970

Policeman’s wife batters 10-year-old niece over N30. The 30 year-old trader, Mrs. Caroline Akanwa, who in 2015 brought the 10-year-old from Okofia, Anambra State, to the Iponri Police Barracks, where she lived with her police husband and two children, to help out with her domestic daily work allegedly battering her niece, Chioma Uneneme.

The victim was said to have assisted with the house chores, as well as the management of Akanwa’s recharge cards business. But Caroline however, on many occasions flogged Uneneme for every offence till her back was marred with sores. 

On such occasions, the victim was said to have been battered for allegedly selling a recharge card of N1,000 for N970. The inflected injuries were discovered by Uneneme’s teacher at St. Paul Primary School, Iponri, who discovered the scars, reportedly took her to a hospital for treatment. 

The hospital management, however, insisted on a police extract before going ahead with the treatment.

The school was said to have written a petition to the Lagos State Office of the Public Defender on the matter.

Officials of the OPD and policewomen from the Area C Police Command were said to have gone to the barracks to arrest Akanwa.

In her statement at the OPD, the suspect allegedly confessed to the crime, saying she never meant to inflict injuries on her niece.

She said, 

“Chioma (Uneneme) is my niece. I brought her to Lagos last year and she has been staying with me. I never intended to inflict injuries on her.
“Some time ago, a customer came to buy a N1,000 recharge card. She sold it for N970 after the person said he did not have the balance. I spanked her for it.
“The latest happened on June 7. My husband and I were not in the house. Somebody came and said my husband’s car was blocking his and he could not move out.
“She gave the person my husband’s car key and the man bashed my husband’s car while trying to move it. When I returned and saw what had happened, I beat her. Aside these, she steals from me. I beat her like I beat my children.”

The Director of the OPD, Mrs. Omotola Rotimi, told PUNCH Metro that the case was reported by the management of St. Paul Primary School, Iponri.

Rotimi, who spoke through the Public Relations Officer of the agency, Adeoba Adeniji-Adele, said the victim’s class teacher discovered the scars on her back and took her to the hospital.

Akanwa was arraigned on Friday in a family court in Surulere and pleaded not guilty to the charge of assault levelled against her by the police.

She was said to have been admitted to bail in the sum of N100,000 with two sureties in like sum.