Segun Atanda/
The police in Lagos have arrested a couple after the wife allegedly poured hot water on their teenage house maid.
The husband was also accused of sexually assaulting the victim, including repeated attempts at forceful anal penetration.
NewsmakersNG learned the couple were arrested today in their residence after a neighbour alerted the police to the development.
The incident is the latest in a series of domestic staff abuses in the state. Another woman was arrested last Friday for allegedly stabbing her 15-year-old housemaid in the head.
The victim, Blessing Joseph, told the police she had endured a long period of physical abuses in the hands of the couple.
NewsmakersNG also learned that the couple, identified as Chigozie and Isioma Ezeofor, were being detained at the gender section of the command headquarters and would be prosecuted in due course.
Police spokesman, SP Chike Oti, confirmed the suspects’ arrest in a statement today.
The statement reads: “Encouraged by the decisive manner in which cases of sexual exploitation and abuse are resolved by the Lagos State Police Command and the passion the Commissioner of Police, CP. Edgal Imohimi, has brought to on bear on cases involving the girl child, women and juveniles, many victims have found the courage to raise their voices against their exploiters.
“Today, 19/12/2017, the command recorded another case of abuse perpetrated against one Miss Blessing Joseph, 19, by her employers, Mr and Mrs Chigozie Ezeofor of 26 Aunty Toyin street, Kodeibo Estate, Ijegun Road, Isheri Oshun, Lagos.
“According to the victim, she has suffered terribly in the hands of the couple, who delighted in dehumanizing her regularly. She further revealed to the police that the wife, Isioma, beats her up at the slightest provocation, while her husband, Chigozie, sexually assaults her whenever the wife is away and had made several painful attempts to penetrate her anus.
“The abuses came to a hilt on 17/12/2017, when Isioma’s temper got the better of her, following which she emptied a kettle of hot water on the poor girl, scalding her skin in the process. A neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous, informed the police of the matter. Both husband and wife are being interrogated at the Gender Section of Lagos State Police Command and would charged to court at the end of the investigation.”
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