A three-year-old girl is battling for her life at the Trauma and Specialist Hospital in Winneba after she was allegedly scalded with hot water by her stepmother.
According to the child’s mother, the girl had been sent to Winneba by her father to spend the vacation. She alleged that the stepmother, identified only as Akaima, a Liberian national, poured hot water on the child’s private parts as punishment for bedwetting.
The mother said she discovered the abuse when she went to retrieve her daughter, who had been kept in Winneba longer than expected.
“After picking her, I realised she couldn’t walk properly. When I examined her, I saw the injuries. She told me her stepmother poured hot water on her for wetting her bed,” she recounted.
Medical staff at the Trauma and Specialist Hospital confirmed that the girl had sustained severe burns, which will require complex treatment.
Child rights organisation Challenging Heights has stepped in to support the family with medical expenses. Its Mother and Child Rescue Unit has also called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of both the stepmother and the father, who is alleged to have overseen the act.
“We are expecting DOVVSU to arrest the perpetrator and even the father with immediate effect,” said Enock Dery Paafu, Programmes Manager at Challenging Heights, in an interview with Accra-based Citi News.
In a statement, the organisation urged government to strengthen child protection institutions, including the Department of Social Welfare, the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), and the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, to better safeguard children’s rights and welfare.
Source: Adomonline
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