Man assaults son with razor blade cuts over soup

Simon Ogunde, Yenagoa

A 34-year-old man, Elekele Messiah, has allegedly inflicted deep razor blade cuts on his son, Promise, aged nine, for allegedly finishing the remaining soup in the house while he was hungry.

The incident happened yesterday in their residence along Edepie road, a suburb of Yenagoa, the state capital.

The incident, which was attributed to poverty and wickedness, did not go down well with neighbours of the suspect who beat Messiah to a pulp.

Messiah was rescued by a concerned Naval officer who handed him over to the Police for proper investigation and prosecution for the horrendous treatment meted out to his son because of soup.

The suspect has been arrested by operatives of the Akenfa Division of the Bayelsa State Police Command for interrogation and prosecution.

It was also gathered that residents of the area contacted the members of the state chapter of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) led by Demo Pamosoo Esq.

It was gathered that the accused father, who is an indigene of Okodi Village in Ogbia Local Government Area of the state had taken custody of the son from his wife in 2019 with a promise to provide better education for him in the state capital.

A neighbour said that instead of the suspect providing his child with proper education and good living condition, he was allegedly fond of maltreating him.

The neighbour, who spoke in confidence, claimed: “Most nights, the boy was left on the street to sleep inside a tricycle because his father’s girlfriend was visiting. The boy was always starved of food for days. It is neighbours that always have pity on Promise and feed him according to their capacities.

 “The father usually beat, tied him up and kept him under the sun for hours at the slightest provocation. Because of maltreatment, the little boy preferred staying on the street rather than at home with his father.

“Because he found his home a living hell for him, Promise started running errands for neighbours in exchange for food and clothing. He usually did any job a boy of his age could do for a morsel of bread and became quite popular in the neighbourhood.

 “On the fateful day, some of the neighbours saw deep cuts on Promise’s chest and enquired from his father. But to their surprise, the father arrogantly said he inflicted the cuts on the son’s chest almost to the rib because he allegedly stole.”

Confirming the development, Demo Pamosoo, said that FIDA was contacted over the boy’s plight and the deep wounds inflicted on his body by his father.

Permosoo said: “When neighbours reported the matter to FIDA, we interviewed the boy and he said the father gave him those cuts because he ate the soup in the house due to hunger. On examining the wound, it was discovered that the body had started decaying due to a lack of proper treatment.

“Immediately, the boy was taken to a clinic for treatment while the father was arrested by the police at Akenfa Division.

“Thereafter, FIDA contacted the boy’s mother who was said to have been prevented by the flood in her community from coming immediately. His mother later struggled to come and FIDA handed the boy over to her with some money for drugs to treat the wound and some palliatives due to the flood.”

The spokesman for Bayelsa State Police Command, Asinim Butswat, also confirmed the development.

He said Elekele Messiah had been arrested for inflicting a grievous wound with a razor blade on his nine-year-old son and that investigation had begun.