[size=14pt]How teenager died 3 days after being beaten by guardian[/size]

Written by Oluwatoyin Malik
Sunday, 09 January 2011



Mrs Olufunmi Abdulahi Photo: Oluwatoyin Malik

THE police at the Homicide section of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Iyaganku, Ibadan, are currently trying to unravel the circumstances surrounding the death of a 15-year-old girl living with a mother of two at Oke Itunu area of Ibadan, Oyo State.

The guardian, 31-year-old Mrs Olufunmi Abdulahi, had reported at the Sango Police station on Monday 27 December, 2010 that the teenager, Abidemi Owolabi, who had been living with her for about three months fell from the staircase while she went to fetch water from the well in their compound downstairs. Mrs Abdulahi further told the police that when she discovered Abidemi in a lying position downstairs, she looked sickly, so she had to rush her to a nearby private hospital. The girl however died before they could get to the hospital.

Curiously, and contrary to the woman’s narration, the police observed marks of violence on the chest and head of the girl which raised the suspicion that Abidemi might have been brutalised. The corpse of the teenager was deposited at State Hospital, Adeoyo, while the woman was detained for interrogation. Her case was eventually transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigations.

Narrating the events that culminated in her detention, Mrs Abdulahi told Sunday Tribune that the deceased was like a sister to her because the girl’s mother is from the same town with her own mother and the elderly women were friends. She said further that Abidemi came into her household about three months ago and two weeks after, she put her in a secondary school at Eleiyele area so that she could continue her education which had stopped because her mother could not afford to sponsor her education any longer. Before Abidemi’s death, Mrs Abdulahi said she was in SS11.

According to the woman, “on December 24 when we returned from Lagos where my husband stays, I asked Abidemi to go and fetch water because the woman that used to do that for me was not around. I usually told her to wait till I would be around before she would fetch water as there is an elderly woman living in the flat on the ground floor with whom I had been having skirmishes. The woman used to pull a lot of trouble with me. So, on the evening of that day, I wanted to barb my son’s hair so I told Abidemi to go ahead with fetching water.

“When I came back, I saw the woman downstairs flashing light at Abidemi. I asked the girl what happened and she replied that as she passed by the front of the old woman’s flat to check if I was back, the old woman said she came to pour juju on the ground. Truly, I met the old woman and her husband with another Igbo tenant standing with Abidemi. I asked the old man what they said the girl did and he started shouting that the girl had come to pour the juju I gave her on the ground, insisting we must go to the community leader’s house to resolve the issue.


The deceased, Abidemi

“I told them I was not going anywhere with them, showing people standing there the house key I was holding and my son whom I took to barb his hair. In anger, I broke the stem of a dried okro plant and used it to beat Abidemi, saying in the presence of all that I had warned her to avoid the old couple as much as possible. I poured away the water she had fetched in a bucket and dragged her upstairs. As I was taking her to our flat, she fell when she tripped on the soakaway slab. She stood up and we went upstairs.

“After we finished cooking that evening, I asked to go and take a shower. As she removed her clothes, I noticed that she had bruises on her arms and her mouth. I went to buy pain killing drugs and Gentian Violet to use on the bruises. After that, there was no problem and on December 27, three days after the incident, we started cleaning the house in preparation for 2011. I was mopping the house and she went downstairs to fetch water to wash some clothes.

“When I finished mopping, I went to put the mop stick at the backyard and that was when I noticed Abidemi sprawled on the ground, half of her body on the staircase and half on the ground. The bucket she went with to fetch water was broken. I rushed to carry her and she was just moaning ‘Mummy, Mummy’. I checked her with my sphygmomanometer and still felt her pulse. I quickly rushed her to a nearby private hospital where I was told she had given up before we got there.

http://tribune.com.ng/sun/index.php/crime-features/2888-how-teenager-died-3-days-after-being-beaten-by-guardian-