A 42-year-old father, Mr. Edet Etok-Akpan, is currently
being quizzed at the headquarters of the Cross River State Police Command in
Calabar for torturing his six-year-old daughter, Edidiong, as a result of a
church prophetess’ pronouncement that the girl was a witch.
Edidiong was beaten by her father and locked up in a room
with her hands, mouth and face bound for four days before she was rescued by
neighbours.
It was learnt that Etok-Akpan started beating her on February
19 after an unidentified prophetess in their church told him that Edidiong was
the witch responsible for the stagnancy in his life.
Narrating her ordeal to PUNCH Metro on Monday,
Edidiong said after the beatings which lasted for some days, her father on
February 21 tied her hands with a cord and bound her mouth with a piece of
cloth.
She said, “He locked me in the inner room of our house and
he never gave me food and never allowed me to go to school.”
The girl, who said she is in basic three at Femos Nursery
and Primary School located at 24 Etyin Abasi Street, said she was becoming weak
after days without food or water.
Luck, however, came her way on February 23, when another
child, who lives with her parents in the same 42 Atakpa Street, came to their
veranda to look for broom and discovered her.
Giving details of how she was rescued, a lawyer with the
Basic Rights Counsel, Mr. James Ibor, said, “The girl went to Edidiong’s
veranda to look for a broom and heard the sound of the girl like that of someone
battling with her last breath.
“She looked through the louvers of the window and saw
Edidiong bound on the floor and raised the alarm. Her parents and other
neighbours rushed to the place and saw Edidiong bound inside her apartment.”
Ibor said one of the neighbours called him and he in turn
informed the police.
He said, “When the policemen and I got there, we saw a
crowd gathered outside. We were able to rescue the child by breaking the door.
“The girl was very weak because she had been without food
for days and so we had to give her water first, then after about ten minutes we
gave her milk before solid food an hour later.”
Ibor said the culprit and his wife had locked up the girl
in the inner room of their two-room apartment and went to church, adding that
the girl was presently living with her grandmother in another part of the town.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. John Umoh,
said Etok-Akpan, who is from Akwa Ibom State, had been arrested and would soon
appear in court to answer charges of felony.
He said, “To tie a small girl’s hand and mouth and lock
her in a room for some days without food is a grievous offence, he shall soon
appear in court.”
Umoh, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, warned parents to
always treat their children with care, adding criminalities are increasing
daily because parents had abandoned their responsibilities to their wards.
He also said the police would visit the church where the
father got the prophecy.
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