Nigerian lawyer charged with beating 7-year-old son in Minnesota



A Nigerian lawyer, and St. Paul Minnesota resident, has been charged with beating his 7-year-old son and threatening to kill him while the man's two younger children watched, according to a Ramsey County criminal complaint.


The Ramsey County attorney's office charged John Nwabuwane Akwuba, DOB 6/24/59, of St. Paul, on 6/21/11 with domestic assault by strangulation and terroristic threats. He was arrested 6/18/11. (Photo from Ramsey County sheriff's office.)

John Nwabuwane Akwuba, 51, is charged with felony terroristic threats and domestic assault by strangulation in connection with the incident Saturday at his home.


Police responded to a report of a child being beaten in the back seat of a car about 11 p.m. A neighbor called police after she saw Akwuba punching a child at least 30 times, the complaint said.

The car was rocking side to side when officers responded to the call and found a 246-pound man was yelling, "I'm going to kill you!" and punching his 7-year-old son in the back of a Mercedes Benz, police reported. The boy was curled up on the floor, his arms covering his head.


Police tried to pull the man away, but the assault continued until they used a Taser on John N. Akwuba, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday and charging the 51-year-old with two felonies, domestic assault by strangulation and making terroristic threats.

Akwuba is a lawyer in St. Paul. Admitted to the Minnesota bar in 1997, he has no public discipline on record, according to the state's Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board. He also has no criminal record in the state.

The complaint gives this account:

Officers were called to the Battle Creek neighborhood about 11 p.m. Saturday "on a report of a child being very badly beaten in the backseat of a car, and , there were two smaller children standing against a wall asking him to stop," the complaint said.

Police saw "two very scared-looking young children," ages 2 and 4, near a car parked in an open garage. They heard a man, identified as Akwuba, yelling obscenities and a child scream after they saw the man bring his fist down.

After officers ran to the car and got Akwuba away from the child, the man "resisted all attempts by officers to handcuff him," the complaint said.

Paramedics brought the boy and his younger siblings to Regions Hospital, where their mother met them.

The boy had a large lump near his eye and a horizontal red mark across his throat.

Akwuba's wife told police that he gets "angry and aggressive when he drinks alcohol," the complaint said. Akwuba's blood-alcohol concentration was 0.102 (the legal limit to drive in Minnesota is 0.08).

The boy reported his father hit him several times with his fists and an arm from a broken child safety seat. "He said his dad choked him and he was scared because he couldn't breathe," the complaint said.

A neighbor who called police told officers she saw Akwuba punch the child at least 30 times, it appeared he was striking the child in the head, and the child was screaming and crying while Akwuba yelled at him.

"Suddenly, she said, the child became quiet and she feared he might be dead," the complaint said. "She called 911."

Akwuba told police "they didn't understand, that his son hit a girl and he was disciplining his child and teaching him." He also said the boy "was a discipline problem who gets into fights."

The man denied choking or hitting his son, "saying he was very angry and was waving his hands and arms in an animated manner," the complaint said. He told police he'd had only two beers and was sorry he alarmed his neighbors with his yelling but believed it was the only way the boy would listen.

Akwuba, who was arrested at the time of the assault, was arrested again Tuesday on a warrant and booked into the Ramsey County jail. His wife could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

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punching a 7 year old child for at least 30 times? he is more than crazy if this is indeed true. really crazy. what kind of crime would a 7 year old commit to warrant him to beat like that. oga o

a very bad father. if i were his mother, i will teach him a lesson for beating/hitting my child. must you punch him 30 times? hissssss

The woman is very stoooopid sha. Look at her mouth. If you know that the craze man is capable of doing this to your child why are you hanging around with the kids. Honestly eh. I actually witnessed something similar ones and it broke my heart. I was visiting my sisters church and while I was parking my car I saw this woman obviously beating the shege out of a child in a car seat. The car was rocking too. I was so upset about it. When the woman finally pulled herself away I realised that the fooool was heavily pregnant. I could not imagine what a child could do that you would pound on him like that. It even upsets me now when I think of it. The same thing happened the other day at my church this time. This lady hit her son so hard on his back. I actually told her that she hit him too hard. As they were walking down the hall she hit him again and again until he cried. I just don't get the need for that sort of thing.

Hit a 7 yrs old 30 times?what could he do to get that kind of beating,made passes at his mum?na wao,

A neighbor called police after she saw Akwuba punching a child at least 30 times, the complaint said.
. . . Akwuba's blood-alcohol concentration was 0.102 (the legal limit to drive in Minnesota is 0.08).

If a 246-lbs man punched a 7-yr old 30 times, I doubt the child would be able to tell anyone what happened.  (The witness may have seen his arm move 30 times but there is no way his fist made contact with the boy 30 times!)

Sounds like the guy lost control and went overboard disciplining the kid - to the point of physical abuse.  If he has a habit of being drunk around his kids and showing violence, he's gonna be in a world of hurt.  Big problems for the whole family and his law license.  The biggest sway in the outcome may be the testimony of the children, but the story of a 2yr old and 4yr old may be ruled inadmissible, leaving the 7yr old victim as the main witness.  Really bad situation. 

I hope the boy is all right and this is not a normal occurrence in his life.

BTW, dude is 51 years old, being 44 when the oldest of the 3 children mentioned was born.  You think he'd have more sense and self-control than that.  He can't use the excuse of being "young and stupid!"

What a shame that the unruly  nature of the Nigerian Lawyer towards his own son was displayed outside. Why will a so called professional who should be very abreast of the law be so stupid to persist in drinking and therefore get drunk beyond the legal alcohol limit ? why did he think that pummelling the child in the back seat or floor of a MercedesBenz will be an applauded way of discipline? the fact that most likely he may face jail time and felony as well as loose his legal license to practice lawwill affect the life of his family and himself. I hope the legal problems he is now facing will serve as a deterant to other like minded Nigerians who think discipline means pummelling and screaming on a kid or spouse to think twice and find a better and more effective way to discipline kids.