Thirteen-year-old
Pelumi Fawibe, an apprentice photographer, has yet to recover from pains after
his boss, Olajide Olaoye, reportedly damaged his scrotum while he was beating
him with a wire for being obstinate.
Our
correspondent learnt that the boy had been living with the boss for three years
before the incident happened on Sunday, February 15, at his shop in Ile Epo bus
stop, Badagry, Lagos.
Fawibe
was said to have been admitted to the Badagry General Hospital, while the boss
was arrested by the police from Area K, but was released afterwards.
Residents
around Olaoye’s shop told PUNCH Metro that on Monday that the boss had
consistently assaulted the boy.
An
eyewitness, who identified himself only as Gbade, said the extent of the injury
to Fawibe’s private parts prompted people to alert the police.
He
said, “The boy’s scrotum became swollen and was bleeding after he beat him up.
He claimed the wire hit the boy’s private parts by accident. We invited the
police who arrested him, but he had been released. He said the boy was
stubborn. Is that how to discipline?”
It
was gathered that the man had told Fawibe to wash his clothes on that day, but
the apprentice allegedly went to play with his friends and returned in the
afternoon.
The
action was said to have infuriated Olaoye who instructed him to kneel down and
raise a piece of stone. It was learnt that the stone fell from Fawibe’s hands
on the head of a boy in front of him.
The
apprentice, who spoke in Yoruba, said, “I am learning photography under him
(Olaoye). He is my uncle and I have been living with him for three years.
“The
stone fell from my hands because I was tired. He picked a wire and started
beating me until it hit me in the scrotum. The spot is still paining me. I don’t
want to live with him again; I want to go back to my mother.”
However,
the boss said Fawibe was notorious for coming home late, stealing and
absconding from the shop. He said the injury to his private parts was
accidental, adding that he would take him back to his mother soon.
“He
is a very stubborn boy. His mother brought him to me three years ago. I
enrolled him in a primary school and he is also my apprentice. He is in Basic 3
now whereas he ought to have finished, but he is dull. His stubbornness provoked
me to beat him up. I mean well for him. He usually returned home late.
“That
Sunday, I told him to wash his clothes at the shop. He left home and went
somewhere else to play. He came back in the afternoon and I was angry with him.
I told him to raise a stone and assigned a boy to flog him if he did not raise
his hands properly.
“He
let the stone fall on the boy’s head and that was why I beat him up. I didn’t
intend to harm his private parts. It was a mistake. I would have taken him back
to his mother, but he is still receiving treatment at the hospital and I want
him to recover fully,” he said.
Olaoye’s
brother, Seyi, said the matter had been resolved.
“That
boy is too stubborn. He can make you do what you don’t intend to do. The police
have resolved the matter.”
The
Lagos State Police spokesperson, SP Dolapo Badmos, promised to get back to
correspondent with comments on the incident but had yet to do so as of press
time.
Source: The Punch
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