The son of Dr. Jude Mbama of St. Jude's Hospital, located at 21 Road, B Close, House 3, FESTAC Town, Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos, on Monday allegedly beat their teenage house-help simply identified as Nana to a stupor, blinding her in the process.
Although the identify of the accused was yet to be identified, sources close to the family who spoke on strict condition of anonymity revealed that the incident was allegedly one of the many cases wherein they repeatedly abused and maltreated the teenager. (Continue to read as culled from Thisday)
The source said, "When I saw the young girl yesterday, she was in a pitiful condition and from what I gathered, the beatings were a daily occurrence. The young girl had been complaining of being assaulted but nobody listened.
"On Monday, the doctor's son beat her till she almost lost consciousness. It was in the process of beating her that he blinded her. They took her to the hospital for treatment but have been threatening her not to disclose what caused her current predicament.
"I am only informing you because I cannot afford to keep shut when some battery is taken place and on a teenager for that matter. I am not a human rights activist but when matters that concern women and children come up, I will go all out.
"Also, because of the way the hospital shut down my attempts to help the poor girl, I thought it wise to speak out lest they end up maiming the teenage orphan's life for good."
Already, THISDAY gathered that the matter has been reported to the Director, National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and other related matters (NAPTIP).
Sources said the agency has already filed in its report and would take concrete steps to investigate the matter, trace the background of the teenager to ensure she was not trafficked or molested.
Earlier attempts to get the doctor's own side of the story failed as repeated calls made to his two lines were at first not picked neither did he reply to the text message sent to the same numbers.
When he later called back at about 4.29pm, the line cut off immediately THISDAY disclosed the reason for the call. At about 4.31pm, he called back again and said, "It is not true. I don't have any such case. I don't understand unknown people calling my line."
As at press time, the hospital gate has been under lock and key as the medical personnel who were allegedly acting on the instructions not to allow new patients, bluffed all attempts to gain access to the victim.
However, sources said the victim might be moved out of the hospital following the way and manner the incident was leaked, despite attempts to allegedly sweep it under the carpet.
When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, promised to find out.
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