Lagos State Government arraigns woman for setting 10-year-old boy ablaze

The Lagos State Government has arraigned a woman, Gift Igwe, in Agunfoye area of Ikorodu for setting her 10-year-old brother-in-law ablaze for misplacing his trousers.

Punch reports that the boy, Chimobi was reportedly rescued by residents of the community, who heard his cry and rushed him to hospital. He sustained extensive burn injuries on his back and arms and has been taken into protective custody by the State Government.

Igwe, a nursing mother, was charged with assault causing grievous harm under Section 254 of the Criminal Code Laws of Lagos, 2011.

She has since been granted bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties with like sum but has failed to perfect the conditions.

The Director of the Office of Public Defender, Olubukola Salami, said the OPD had the intention of taking Igwe’s four-month-old baby into custody along with Chimobi but that prison officials had indicated that there was a wing for nursing mothers in the Kirikiri Prisons where she is held.

She said, “When we charged her to court, all the people in the community came to court that day to buttress the fact that she had been abusing the child over a period of time.

“We thought we could have charged the boy’s brother to court for neglect too because when he brought the boy, who is an orphan from the village, he failed to put him in school.  At the moment, we are working to ensure that the boy is enrolled in a school.”