Woman beats foster son to death for stealing N50

Tragedy struck at 8, Amosu
Street, Ijegun, Lagos, on Sunday
as a woman identified simply as
Iya Anu, allegedly beat her foster
son, Seubow, to death for
allegedly stealing N50.
It was learnt that Iya Anu, a
mother of four, usually inflicted
injuries on Seubow, her
husband’s nephew and her
children whenever they erred.
Trouble started when 16-year-
old Seubow misplaced a N1, 000
note given to him for an errand
on Saturday.
The development, it was learnt,
irked Iya Anu who starved the
teenager throughout Saturday.
When Seubow could no longer
bear the hunger, he sneaked out
of the house at night to buy Gala.
When Iya Anu knew about it, our
correspondent learnt that she
became furious, accused him of
stealing her N50 and gave the
teenager the beating of his life.
A neighbour who identified
herself simply as Balikis said the
accused must have used a hot
object to batter the boy as his
body was full of burns.
She said, “Iya Anu began to beat
him on Saturday night. The
beating continued till about 9am
on Sunday when her husband
and the other children had left
for church.
“She battered him till he gave up
the ghost about noon. When she
realised that the boy had lost
consciousness, she cried for help
but it was already late. At a
point, she wanted to run away
but she was promptly rounded
up.”
Another resident, Modinatu, said
Iya Anu, had in June battered the
boy resulting in her being invited
to the Isheri-Oshun Police
Division for questioning.
She said, “Seubow joined them in
December 2011 and this woman
has made life so unbearable for
him just the way she does to her
children too. In June, the boy was
battered to the extent that she
was quizzed by the police.
“Also, she has in the name of
discipline used a knife to injure
her first daughter, Anu, on her
shoulders over issues bordering
on misdemeanour.
“She is so violent that she even
fights neighbours with objects at
the slightest provocation. She
was sent packing from her
former place of residence on
Jimoh Aigbe Street, which is just
some few streets away from
here when she injured her
landlady with a knife.”
Corroborating Modinatu’s claims,
Alexander Akinnurun, the
Proprietor of Alex Group of
Schools, Ijegun, the school
Seubow attended before his
death, described her as a
troublemaker.
He said, “She has been
perpetrating those acts for quite
some time now and reports of
her heinous deeds abound. In
June, Seubow who happened to
be one of my pupils came to
school with a disfigured face and
wounds on his body.
“I was so moved by this that I
reported the incident to the
police. I don’t know how far the
police went with the matter but I
never expected that such an ugly
incident would still repeat itself.”
When our correspondent visited
the area on Monday, it was learnt
that she had been arrested by
the police.
It was also learnt Iya Anu was a
serial divorcee and is at present
with her third husband.
When contacted on the phone,
the Police Public Relations Officer
in the state, Ngozi Braide, said
she could not reach the Divisional
Police Officer of Isheri Oshun.
“I can’t independently confirm
the incident for now as the
phone number of the DPO of the
station is not available. I will get
back to you as soon as I get
through to him,” she said.