Juliana Francis
An 11 years old girl, Imesoma, narrated in chilling detail how her madam had been maltreating and dehumanising her.
The child, who said she is from Anambra State, added that she did not remember the particular place in Anambra State.
But she did remember that her father’s name is Timothy Chimezie, while her mom’s name is Ogechukwu.
The girl said that she has been living with her madam for four years and those four years has been hell on earth.
Imesoma, said that she ran away from home and while narrating her ordeal to a child rights advocate, said her madam has always been mean to her.
The Executive Director of Esther Child Rights Foundation, Ms. Esther Ekwem has become involved in the matter, determined to seek justice on behalf of the child.
Imesoma said: “I sleep on the floor with the torn wrapper. My toothbrushes are those used and abandoned by her children. She feeds me once a day. I ran away because she was beating me too much and I felt she wanted to beat me to death. Moreover, she entered the kitchen and grabbed a knife, so I had to run.”
Imesoma, who said that the madam has two children continued her narration: “On that day she beat me like she wanted to kill me, the children were not at home. I since I went to live with her, she refused to enrol me in school. When I was living with my parents, I used to go to school. When I begged her to enrol me in school, she asked who would be washing the toilets and doing the domestic chores. When I came to live with her people tell me that I was pretty because I looked like my mom, but today, I can’t even recognise myself.”
Imesoma said that there was a day she woke up and then pounced on her for not greeting her and this was at about 4:am when she used to wake up every day to start her domestic chores.
She recalled: “She used the stick, which is used in stirring ‘eba’ to hit me and ended up hurting my ear. She later told me that I fell down the staircase. Since my ear injury, she didn’t treat me, rather, whenever she wanted to beat me, she’ll use the stick to hit that same ear again and that was how she damaged my ear. She also uses wire to flog me. There was a day she hurled ice at me, it hit me on the head and there was blood everywhere. She works at where women used to deliver babies at Opalaside in this Delta State. She leaves home in the morning hours and usually returns at 9:Pm. Whenever she was going out, she locked me outside; and I will outside until she returns. She used to say to me, ‘dead body stay out there until I return.’ It is whenever she returned that we would eat. She used to take her children somewhere for people to watch them until she returns.”
Speaking on the issue, Ekwem said: “Parents should avoid giving out their children. The truth is that nobody can care for your child, the way you do. Running away is another danger because she could be raped or killed. Parents should be careful because child abuse is on the increase. Everyone should join in checking escalating cases of child abuse.”
