Police arrest couple for allegedly torturing 13-year-old ward

The police in Taraba State have arrested a man and his wife accused of torturing their 13-year-old ward over suspected theft.

The girl was taken to hospital with severe burns on her hands after the incident was reported to the police.

The state commissioner of police, David Iloyanomon, stated this on Friday while parading the suspects at the police headquarters in Jalingo, the state capital.

Mr Iloyanomon said the police division in the area received a complaint on 1 July that one Bulus Bitonopa tortured the girl (name withheld), causing her “temporal paralysis.”

The police chief said a man he identified as Hon. Cleopas was also in custody for taking the victim to his house in Jalingo instead of taking her to the hospital “in a bid to conceal the crime.”

He said Mr Cleopas also resisted police intervention after the matter was reported.

Victim narrates ordeal

Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES at the Federal Medical Centre, Jalingo, on Friday, the teenage girl narrated how her guardians tied her hands with a rubber band and poured hot water containing pepper on them.

Speaking in Hausa, she narrated how her uncle and his wife allegedly tortured her.

“In May, my uncle asked me to come from the village and stay with them, promising to send me to school. That Friday, his wife asked me to call some young people to work on her farm.

“But when I returned from the errand, she said her N5,000 was missing and suspected I took it. My uncle and one other person then tied my hands while she boiled water with pepper and poured it on me.”

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She said they kept her tied for several hours until an uncle of hers, who came from the village to Yorro for the market day, rescued her.

“He then took me to the hospital where I was only given injection.”

The police chief said the suspects in the incident would be prosecuted after police investigations.