Jenat Audu, a 13-year-old house maid who was burnt with hot water by her caregiver has been handed over to the Kaduna State Ministry of Human Services and Social Development.
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) handed over the teenager to the ministry in Kaduna, Thursday.
A Kaduna magistrates’ court had earlier adjourned the matter to August 19, 2021, to allow the police complete their investigation.
However, at the resumed hearing yesterday, Magistrate Benjamin Hassan again adjourned to September 8, 2021, to again enable the police to complete their investigation on the matter.
Speaking with journalists after the sitting, representative of the Human Rights Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Barnawa branch, Bukola Ajao, told journalists that the prosecuting team sought more time to enable them talk to Janet Audu before they could go further.
Yusuf Marcus (14) who is the 1st respondent, and his mother, Luthsi Marcus (47), 2nd respondent, both residents of Narayi High Cost, Kaduna, are facing a three-count charge of cruelty to a person, causing bodily harm without provocation and abatement of offender contrary to Sections 207, 221 and 54 of the Penal Code of Kaduna State.
They had earlier been granted bail after they pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Daily Trust recalls that the teenage housemaid had burnt her caregiver’s soup sometime in July which angered the son, Yusuf, who poured hot water on her.
Meanwhile, an Ekiti State magistrates’ court in Ado Ekiti yesterday ordered one Ayeni Tosin Titilayo to be remanded at office of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Ado-Ekiti for stabbing her 15-year-old stepdaughter with a knife on the head.
The Magistrate, Mr Michael Faola, said the bail of the defendant as requested by her counsel, Gbenga Ariyibi, will be considered on the next day of adjournment when the court is satisfied with the state of health of the victim.
An officer of the NSCDC, Iyaniwura Oluwanifesimi, earlier announced his appearance before the matter was taken over by a legal officer from the office of the Ekiti State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Richard Olowoyo, who informed the court that the defendant committed the offence on August 5, 2021, in Iyana Emirin, Federal Polytechnic Road, Ado-Ekiti.
From Maryam Ahmadu-Suka (Kaduna) & Raphael Ogbonnaiye, Ado-Ekiti