Nigerian Woman Beats 8-Year-Old Stepdaughter Then Burns Her Genitals Using Matches

A Nigerian woman was arrested for beating her 8-year-old stepdaughter and setting her private parts on fire using matches. The Bauchi State Police Command apprehended Aisha Abdullahi and charged her with child molestation and attempted homicide last Monday.

According to a statement by Command spokesperson Ahmed Mohammed Wakil, the incident took place on the afternoon of February 14. The child kept poking at her clothes while sleeping which provoked her stepmother to beat her with an electric wire. Abdullahi then proceeded to light matches on the child’s genitals causing her to sustain serious burn injuries, First Reporters wrote.

Police rushed the child to a hospital for emergency treatment and arrested her stepmother. Authorities are currently looking further into their investigation to acquire more information and facts on the case.

This is not an uncommon scenario for many stepdaughters in Nigeria who suffer at the hands of a cruel stepmother. In a story from Nairaland.com, a woman brutally killed her 6-year-old stepdaughter in 2017 with an axe-handle. As an attempt to cover up her murderous deed, Tendai Happiness Bwanya, 47, inserted a vibrator in the child's genitals to make it seem like she was a victim of rape.

Bwanya was convicted of murder by the High Court and was sentenced to 23 years in prsion.

The judge who handed down her sentence expressed shock at the extent of brutality the stepmother had inflicted on the child saying that a child as young as her stepdaughter could not have provoked her stepmother to punish her in such a manner the way Bwanya did.

“The horrendous nature of the wounds that were on the child’s body at the time of her body speaks volumes of the inhuman treatment and horrors she went through at your hands while she was still alive”, Justice Charles Hungwe said.

The judge also added that people like Bwanya are the ones who taint the image of all stepmothers adding how she even tried to lie in her testimony.

According to Bwanya’s statement, she had seen an unidentified man leaving her house and that the child told her she had been raped. She also tried to dissuade her husband from making a police report and at which she kept on cleaning the mess in the house to cover up evidence.