By Our Correspondent
A Nigerian woman Mariam Danjuma, has landed herself in serious trouble for using hot knife to inflict serious injuries on her stepson for taking food from her pot.
According to a report by a human rights agency in Niger state, Ahmad Shehu Amir who is eight years and sickle cell anaemia patient said he had returned from his Islamic school very hungry but met the absence of his stepmother, Mariam Danjuma.
And since there was food in the pot, he felt that it would not be of any harm if he helped himself to some. That, however, turned out the tonic his stepmother needed to unleash horror on him.
The woman who returned home later, was said to piqued to the extent that she put a knife in the fire and waited until it was red hot before using the dangerous object to inflict cuts on the boy’s eyes and some other parts of his body.
Thereafter, she threatened to kill Ahmad if he continued to stay in the house, all these happened in the presence of Shehu Musa Danjuma, the father of the boy who stood by and idly watched as his wife dehumanize Ahmad.
When confronted on the matter by the human rights group, the woman, in a statement said- “What happened was that I cooked three cups of rice and spaghetti. I did not leave any for their father but I gave all of them. The remaining food in the pot was for his brother.
“When the brother returned from Islamiyya, he could not find the food so I asked all of them if they took the food. They all denied, but since I knew him with such acts, I insisted until he finally confessed.
“This was not the first time he would take such things, and I always preached to him. I usually scared him with fire whenever he did such things.
“On that day, I held a small phone in my hand. As I was taking the knife towards his hand, he hit it with his head.
“I was not even aware of the burn until the next morning when his father complained. I called the boy and made him know that my target was not his head but his hand.
“Everything I did to him to stop him from stealing had proved abortive so I decided that he should be returned to his mother since everyone was watching to see how I would treat a child who is not mine.”
Maryam said she was the one that was taking care of the family’s feeding and did not understand why Ahmad would keep stealing from her.
She said: “I have been the one taking care of them since their father is no longer financially stable. I can also decide to stop doing that since it is my money, and I could sell the foodstuffs I receive in exchange for teaching at the place where I work.”
Ahmad’s father, Shehu Musa Danjuma, explained that he said nothing when Maryam was punishing Ahmad because he did not want to complain about her actions in the presence of the children.
He described the eight-year-old boy as a spoilt child and blamed his mother for making things worse.
“It is the mother that spoilt him. Because we live in the same area, she would come to our area and give him money.
“She even gives our neighbours money to keep for them in case they would need it. She would give a boy as small as Ahmad N20 or N50 to spend.”
On her part, Ahmad’s mother, Aisha Baba Zagunu, who reported the incident to the Niger State Child Rights Agency, said she was informed about the incident by her eldest son, Musa Shehu, who is 15 years old and also lives with their father and his wife.
Aisha said: “Musa said they went to an Islamic school and returned and Ahmad was hungry. Since the stepmother was not at home, he took food from the pot and ate.
“He said that when she returned and asked about the rice, he admitted to having eaten it because he was hungry.
“Musa then said she took a knife, put it in the gas fire, and when it was hot, she used it on him and said she did not want to see him in the house again or she would kill him.
“That was why he called me to come and take Ahmad away before she would kill him,” she stated.
When the matter was reported to the Niger State Child Rights Agency, its Director General, Mariam Kolo, after listening to all sides, directed that the case be taken to the state CID for proper investigation and prosecution.
Kolo said it was a case of serious act of cruelty to a child, adding that the father should also be punished for watching while his son, who he knows is a sickler, was being punished cruelly.
She said: “The Agency will not take it easy on this issue because the report we just heard is very harrowing. This is how it begins before it becomes a mega crime meted out to a child.