The Children, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Court, sitting at the Chief Magistrate Court, Awka, Wednesday, remanded a lawyer, Mrs Adachukwu Okafor, in police custody for brutalising an 11-year-old girl living with her.
Okafor, accused of using sharp objects to injure the girl’s private part over refusal to carryout some domestic chores, earlier appeared before the Anambra State commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare where she claimed that the girl injured herself while attempting to run away from being flogged.
The minister of women’s affairs, Mrs Uju Kennedy-Ohanenyem, had placed a N2million bounty on her while she ran into hiding before she later turned herself up to a police station in Awka.
Okafor was arraigned on a-two count charge, bothering on willful infliction of physical injuries on the body of one Happiness Nwafor, an offence punishable under Section 4(1) of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition and Protection) Laws of Anambra State of Nigeria 2017.
However, when the charge was read and interpreted to the satisfaction of the Court, she pleaded not guilty to the charges and her lawyer, Chijioke Nwankwo, applied for bail on her behalf but it was turned down by the court which equally adjourned the case to February 28th, 2024 for ruling.