A 13year-old apprentice photographer, Pelumi Fawibe, is yet to
recover from pains after his employer, Olajide Olaoye, reportedly damaged his
scrotum while he was beating him with a wire for being stubborn.
Its been reported that the boy
had been living with the said 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.
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.
Culled from Punch
0 comments:
Post a Comment