What should happen to the murderous madam that nearly killed her young maid?
The woman caught in viral video attempting to kill a young girl that happened to be her maid has been arrested. Her name is Amaka Otolehi from Ngor-Okpala in Imo State. She is married to Nkem Otolehi. The girl in question is Peace Goewam (from Jos) while Jonathan Goewam is her uncle that gave her to the Otolehi family. They all appear in the pictures below.
To determine what should happen to the woman, we have to be clear as to what happened and what we saw on that video. It is clear that the woman (Amaka Otolehi) attempted to kill the girl (Peace Goewam). We shall use her action to infer her intent. It is important that Amaka be stopped from killing Peace or any other child. It is also important that we send a message to all other women like Amaka that the society will not allow anybody to try what Amaka did.
How best do we achieve these two objectives? The state needs to prosecute Amaka and send her to jail upon conviction. This is the very minimum that should happen.
But there are other adults involved in this. Mr. Nkem Otolehi lives in the same house with Amaka and Peace. He has seen Amaka maltreat Peace. Even though he had a duty to protect Peace and to restrain Amaka, he failed to perform those duties. That is criminal negligence and abuse of a child. The society needs to wake him up to his duties and send a message to all men like Nkem. They are equally guilty if they fold their arms and watch their wives abuse minor children in their care.
Also, Nkem and Amaka are not fit to be entrusted with the care of children. If Nigeria had foster care system, all minor children of Nkem and Amaka should be taken away from them and placed in foster care.
Another adult to be dealth with is the uncle of Peace (Jonathan Goewan) who gave her away to Amaka and Nkem. Given the presumed age of Peace, that transfer of a minor violates the rules of NAPTIP. It constitutes trafficking. The uncle should be arrested and prosecuted for that.
Peace should be returned to her parents or close relatives capable of caring for her.
The worst thing to happen is to allow Amaka to become famous from her evil deed. One is discouraged to see her in these pictures without her being in handcuffs. The police must understand that serious crimes have been committed and there ought to be consequences.
Finally, organizations like DPA should organize seminars and training programs to teach women about the rights of minors in their care, including their own children. An average woman should have a formal training in the law against child abuse.