Photo of the uncle who set a 2-year-old girl on fire for defecating indiscriminately has finally been released to the public.
The 2-year-old identified as Destiny Kelvin was set ablaze by Leo Columbus Enwa, in Akampka Local Government Area of Cross River State. The evil man reportedly tied his brother’s child, Destiny, to a tree and set her lower limb on fire because she defecates around the compound and their neighbours’ garden.
Child Protection Network, CPN, rescued the child from him and handed her over to the Basic Rights Counsel Initiative, BRCI, where she is currently undergoing treatment. Due to the trauma she suffered, Destiny can neither sit nor stand.
Columbus admitted he is guilty of the crime and explained that;
He said:
People have been complaining and I have been ignoring it until that day. Someone reported to me that she had defecated in their place again. With the annoyance that she defecated on someone’s pumpkin and waterleaf, I beat her up.
Leo said he was burning some grasses at the time he got the report so, in anger, he threw the burning grass on her and she was burned.
He continued:
When I saw that she was burnt, I became remorseful and bought drugs and gave to her. I did not plan to kill her. She is my brother’s daughter. I did it out of annoyance.
I can’t lock her inside the house, but I always told her to stay in the house and that if she wanted to go to the toilet, she should do it in the house, but she still went out and defecated in neighbors’ houses.
Apart from the burns she suffered, the child was found looking malnourished and severely underweight. It was also revealed that the child was not allowed to sleep in the main house, instead a makeshift bed was made for her in an area not even fit for a dog.
