Woman arrested for brutalizing her stepdaughter after the child's teacher reported to police

A housewife has been arrested for child abuse after it was discovered that she had been treating her stepdaughter poorly.

4-year-old Stephanie Dikeocha lost her biological mother during delivery and her father remarried to a woman identified as Jennifer Dikeocha. Sadly, this was the beginning of a life of torment for the child who never knew her biological mother for one day. 

According to reports, the stepmother maltreated Stephanie so much that she preferred being away from home. It was gathered that Stephanie looks happy while in school. But once it's time to go home, her mood changes for the worse and she would begin to cry.

This became a daily habit and her class teacher noticed. Her teacher also noticed lacerations all over her body.

On Friday, November 9, 2018, when Stephanie got to school, her teacher noticed that she was not looking OK. The teacher decided to give her a hug to make her feel better and also to check her body temperature. But the child recoiled in pain and she checked to find wounds and cane marks all over her body.

The teacher immediately lodged a complaint at the Mowe Police Station and the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Mowe Divisional Police Headquarters, Francis Ebhuoma, detailed detectives to follow the girl to the house where her stepmother was arrested.

The State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said:

The arrest of the wicked step mother was as a result of complaints lodged at Mowe Police Station by the class teacher of the pupil, who brought the little girl to the station and showed the police various bodily injuries allegedly inflicted on her by the said stepmother .

On the strength of the report, the DPO of Mowe Division, CSP Francis Ebhuoma, detailed some detectives to follow the girl to their house, where the wicked step-mother was promptly arrested’, Oyeyemi stated.

The Police spokesman added:

The Abia state-born suspect narrated to the police how she took up Stephanie as a child which was occasioned by her mother’s death after giving birth to her, saying she got married to the girl’s father in 2016. She could not give reasons for her wicked act to the innocent girl.

The Commissioner of Police, CP Ahmed Iliyasu, has ordered that the JWC Section conduct a thorough investigation into the case with the view of prosecuting the suspect.