2-month-old Imo Baby Amputated After Assault By Father

The Imo State government and authorities of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) have been charged to arrest and prosecute one Confidence Amatobi, for cruelly assaulting his two-month-old son, Miracle. Amatobi reportedly broke Miracle’s right for disturbing his sleep.

This led to the amputation of the baby’s fractured hand at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Owerri.

Nigeria Association of Women Journalists, (NAWOJ), lmo State chapter, National Human Rights Commission, (NHRC) and aggrieved mother of Miracle, made the call for justice on behalf of the baby in Owerri, the Imo State Capital.

The state chairperson of NAWOJ, Dr Dorothy Nnaji, who spoke with LEADERSHIP after visiting the amputated boy at FMC, Owerri, disclosed that the injury inflicted by the 31-year-old father, a native of Amurie in Isu local government area of the state caused the amputation of the boy’s right hand.

Mrs Nnaji who frowned at the dastardly cruel act of Amatobi expressed shock that a father could assault his innocent little child so brutally simply because he was crying and disturbing his sleep.

She disclosed that Amatobi was reported to have repeatedly hit the baby with a plastic object to stop him from crying until the right hand broke and he had to be amputated from the shoulder at the FMC, Owerri, when medical treatment failed.

Describing the attack on the little boy as the height of child abuse, the chairperson demanded justice for the baby since he can’t speak for himself.

The state coordinator of NHRC, Mrs Ukachi Ukah, who reacted to the incident, condemned the brutality of Amatobi on the little boy over no known offence of the infant and insisted that justice must be allowed to take its course.

Narrating her ordeal, the mother of Miracle, Mrs Favour Amatobi, who hails from Idemili Community, Anambra State disclosed that she had left Miracle with his father on Friday, October 7, 2022, to use the convenience, when the incident occurred.

Mrs Amatobi recalled that she overheard her baby crying uncontrollably and had to rush back to know the cause of his cry only for her to discover that the right hand was swollen and bone broken from the beating he received from his father.

Amatobi, it was learnt, confessed that the baby was disturbing him with his cry while he was sleeping and he had to try to stop him by battering him.

“Upon noticing that he has broken the baby’s hand, he used sticks and rubber bands to bind the broken bones together.

“When l confronted him about what he did, he locked us in the room, to prevent me from telling people about his wicked deed or seek for help. He also collected my phone from me, so that I will not call the neighbours,” she stated.

She narrated how she managed to take the baby to hospitals in the community, which refused to treat the baby, before she took him to Federal Medical Centre Owerri, where the amputation was done while his father remained at large.

The woman appealed for support to save her child while calling on the State Government, National Human Rights Commission and other Civil Society Organizations to assist her to get justice for the son.