Two parents, Mr. and Mrs. lawal of 59, Market Street, Somolu, Lagos, have run into trouble with the police for maltreating their 14-year-old son, Lateef Lawal, for returning home late from church.
But apparently not satisfied with the level of corporal punishment already meted to him, they got hold of a razor blade and inflicted deep injuries on the back of the right hand of the 14-year-old boy
The parents, who have now been invited by the police for interrogation, inflicted serious injuries on their son with a razor blade while meting out punishment to him for coming back home late from church last Sunday.
Angered by Lateef’s late return from church, they decided to teach him some lesson, pouncing on him and giving him some beatings.
But apparently not satisfied with the level of corporal punishment already meted to him, they got hold of a razor blade and inflicted deep injuries on the back of the right hand of the 14-year-old boy.
Lateef, who was now bleeding profusely from the deep wounds on his hand as he wailed, was rescued from being further punished by his parents by neighbours, who quickly took him to the nearby Somolu General Hospital for treatment.
The office of the Social Welfare Department in the area later intervened by assisting the teenager, who is a Junior Secondary School 2 student of Morocco Junior High School, to get proper treatment at the hospital.
The office of the social welfare paid for his hospital card, while the hospital provided him drugs free-of-charge. He was also given an anti-Tetanus injection to protect him from infection.
After receiving treatment at the hospital, this eye witness bought some food for Lateef, who was apparently very hungry by then.
We later took the teenager to Alade Police Station under the Onipanu Police Division to lodge complaint against his parents for maltreatment and child abuse.
The Division Police Officer, Chief Superintendent of Police Segun Ajao, promised to deal with Lateef’s parents, in accordance with the law, to serve as deterrent to others.
But as at the time of filing this report, the parents of the teenage victim had yet to report at the police station for interrogation over the alleged abuse they perpetrated against their own son.
This eye witness, however, further learnt that the victim and two of his other siblings, five-year-old Adiat Lawal and Halimat Lawal, 2, lacked good parental
care.
Neighbours alleged that they were usually left to their own fate every day by their mother, Mrs. Moji Lawal, who is a computer typist at the premises of the Yaba College of Technology, and their father, who is a commercial bus
driver.
Toyin Okanlawon,
Shomolu, Lagos.
