37 year old man arrested for setting his niece on fire.

The Cross River State Police Command has arrested 37-year-old Leo Columbus Enwa for allegedly setting ablaze his two year old niece, Destiny Kelvin, for defecating all over the house.

The toddler was rescued in Akamkpa, by an NGO called Child Protection Network (CPN) and handed over to the Basic Rights Counsel Initiative (BRCI). According to eye witnesses, the toddler was tied to a guava tree and set on fire.

On his part, Columbus said he started taking care of Destiny, who is his brother’s daughter, two years ago. He said his neighbours had been complaining that the little girl, whose parents are in Lagos, was always defecating in their houses.

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 water leaf, I beat her up.”

Columbus, who added that at the time he was burning some grasses, said in anger, he threw the burning grasses on her, which severely burnt part of her body.

“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,” he added.