eAn Ikeja Magistrates’ Court sitting in Ogba, Lagos State, has ordered the remand of a woman, Ms. Onyinye Mbadike, in prison for keeping her 10-year-old cousin, Chibike Eziamaka in a kennel.
Mbadike, 24, was arraigned on two counts bordering on assault on Friday before Magistrate B. O. Osunsanmi
Chibike, an orphan from Anambra State was said to have been living with the suspect since 2012 when his parents died.
The video of his ordeal went viral recently when the woman was seen assaulting the boy in the kennel
Spokesman for the Lagos State Police Command, Mr. Bala Elkana said in a statement on Thursday, August 15 that a team of detectives from the Gender Unit, Command’s Headquarters, Ikeja, had arrested the woman at of No. 7 Trimnell Street, Aguda for assault and child abuse.
“The viral video on the social media showed the suspect torturing one Chibike Eziamaka; 10, of same address.
The video also showed the suspect locking the boy up in a dog’s kennel, sharing space with dogs.
“The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Zubairu Muazu, had ordered the Gender Unit of the command to identify the woman in the video, rescue the child and make the suspect face the full weight of the law.
“The Gender Unit traced the suspect to the Chumpe Liquor Store, Surulere, and her residence in Aguda. The boy was rescued and taken to a secure shelter. The suspect admitted that she was the one in the viral video flogging the child with a belt, but she denied locking him in a cage with dogs. She said she only locked him in an empty kennel, where bags were being kept,” said Elkana.
The police arraigned Mbadike in court last Friday, August 16 on a two-count charge.
The charges read in part: “That you, Onyinye Mbadike, of Trimnell Street, Aguda, Surulere, Lagos, in the Ikeja Magisterial District, did assault one Chibike, 10 years old, thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 172 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State.
“That you, Onyinye Mbadike, did put one Chibike, 10 years old, in a kennel in order to choke or suffocate him, thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 239 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State.” The presiding magistrate ordered that the defendant be remanded in prison and adjourned the case to October 9, 2019 for mentio