Shocking! 3-Week-Old Baby Girl Hospitalised After Being Slapped By Her Father
The police are looking for a man who has been identified as Edet Asuquo, 32, a bus conductor, after he almost killed his newborn baby, Gift Asuquo. It’s understood the 3-week-old baby girl has been hoospitalised after being slapped by her father. He then fled his home in the Idi Araba area of Lagos State.
According to Punch Metro, Edet was angry that the baby’s mother, Rosemary Kingsley, who is also from Calabar, Cross River State, gave birth to a girl. It’s gathered the suspect didn’t see her usefulness and threatened to kill her. Rosemary had moved into her bus conductor boyfriend’s apartment on Ayinla Street after she was delivered of the baby.
On January 10, 2018, the suspect slapped his daughter because she was hungry and was crying. The baby was said to have convulsed due to the severity of the assault and was rushed to a medical centre for treatment. The hospital workers then called the attention of the Lagos State Office of the Public Defender to the matter, and the agency contacted the police at the Itire division. However, by the time the police got to the house, Edet had fled.
Meanwhile, a social worker with the OPD disclosed that blood spurted out of the baby’s nostrils as a result of the injury she sustained, adding that the mark of the slap was visible on her cheek. She said:
“We gathered that the two lovers were not married. She sold plantain chips, while the man was a bus conductor. They just met on the road and agreed to date each other. She became pregnant a few weeks into the relationship. At the initial stage, the man didn’t want to take responsibility for the pregnancy. But after she was delivered of the baby, he bowed to pressure and allowed both mother and child to move in with him. They lived in a shop.
“According to the woman, the baby was crying that morning while the father carried her. He started abusing the baby and saying a girl would not be useful to him because he wanted a boy. She said he slapped the baby. At that point, the baby started convulsing. It was the neighbours who compelled him to get drugs for the girl’s treatment. She was later taken to a hospital. The mark of the assault is visible on the child.
“When the matter got to our attention, we mobilised policemen to the house. However, we were told that he had escaped. The police have promised to get him arrested for assaulting the innocent baby. Even the mother was being maltreated by Edet; he seized her phone.”
The Director of the OPD, Mrs. Olubukola Salami, has promised that the agency would ensure the suspect faces the full wrath of the law. She added:
“The rising trend in child abuse is alarming. Children are vulnerable and should be protected, not pummelled. The Lagos State Government will ensure the rights of children are protected and perpetrators who violate these rights, irrespective of status, are brought to book, no matter how long it takes.”
Meanwhile, the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Chike Oti, confirmed the incident, adding that the Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, had ordered that the suspect be arrested. He said:
“The case was reported. The man slapped the baby and fled. We are looking for him. In fact, the CP, who detests abuse of children and domestic violence, has ordered the Divisional Police Officer to get him arrested. What he did is highly reprehensible and has no place in a modern society.”
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