By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

Anambra State Children, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Court, sitting at the Chief Magistrate’s Court, Awka, Anambra State, has awarded the sum of five hundred thousand naira as compensation to 9-year-old Nnewi native, Idimmachukwu whose guardian battered and injured for throwing her child down.

Justice Genevieve Osakwe who presided over the court proceedings said the defendant, Mrs Ifesinachi, 25-year-old, went contrary to the Violence Against Persons, Prohibition and Protection, Laws of Anambra State of Nigeria, 2017, in the treatment she meted out to the little girl in Onitsha where they lived.

According to the court, the five hundred thousand naira which would be paid in a dedicated bank account to be opened in the girl’s name by the defendant is to be used strictly for her education.

The court noted that the girl’s mother and the Assistant Chief Registrar (ACR) of the Court, would be co-signatories to the account, adding that every expenditure to be made from the account must be accounted for, in order to avoid expenditures that are not related to the purpose of the money.

The court further adjourned the case to August 2, 2023, for report of compliance to the order of Court.

Recall that the defendant, Mrs, Ifesinachi, a nursing mother of twins, physically battered Idimmachukwu who was then her house help with dangerous weapons like, heated knife, pestle, among others which she used to not only immeasurable pain on the minor, she also bruised her head, hands and eyes to the point that the child could barely lift her hands.

Idimmachukwu was discovered by good spirited individuals who saw her while she was going to throw away thrash and confronted her to know how the bruises came about.

The video subsequently went viral and attracted the attention of the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Mrs Off Obinabo.

The Ministry intervened on the matter, hospitalized and eventually took custody of Idimmachukwu after a series of controversies occasioned by the involvement of a skit maker Lord Zeus who took the girl from the hospital where she was hospitalized in Awka, and transferred her to an Asaba hospital, in Delta State, before she was eventually brought back to state by the Commissioner and her team.

The operatives of the Anambra State Police Command also arrested the suspect and charged her to court.

Idimmachukwu was however handed over to her family after comprehensive treatment at the hospital.