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.