Posted on: 02:23 Tue, 23 Feb 2016



Thirteen-year-old Pelumi Fawibe,
an apprentice photographer, has
yet to recover from pains after his
boss, Olajide Olaoye, reportedly
damaged his scrotum while he was
beating him with a wire for being
obstinate.

Our correspondent learnt that the
boy had been living with the boss
for three years before the incident
happened on Sunday, February 15,
at his shop in Ile Epo bus stop,
Badagry, Lagos.

Fawibe was said to have been
admitted to the Badagry General
Hospital, while the boss was
arrested by the police from Area K,
but was released afterwards.

Residents around Olaoye’s shop told
PUNCH Metro that on Monday that
the boss had consistently assaulted
the boy.

An eyewitness, who identified
himself only as Gbade, said the
extent of the injury to Fawibe’s
private parts prompted people to
alert the police.

He said, “The boy’s scrotum became
swollen and was bleeding after he
beat him up. He claimed the wire
hit the boy’s private parts by
accident.

We invited the police who arrested
him, but he had been released. He
said the boy was stubborn. Is that
how to discipline?”

It was gathered that the man had
told Fawibe to wash his clothes on
that day, but the apprentice
allegedly went to play with his
friends and returned in the
afternoon.

The action was said to have
infuriated Olaoye who instructed
him to kneel down and raise a
piece of stone. It was learnt that the
stone fell from Fawibe’s hands on
the head of a boy in front of him.

The apprentice, who spoke in
Yoruba, said, “I am learning
photography under him (Olaoye).
He is my uncle and I have been
living with him for three years.

“The stone fell from my hands
because I was tired. He picked a
wire and started beating me until it
hit me in the scrotum. The spot is
still paining me. I don’t want to live
with him again; I want to go back
to my mother.”

However, the boss said Fawibe was
notorious for coming home late,
stealing and absconding from the
shop. He said the injury to his
private parts was accidental,
adding that he would take him back
to his mother soon.

“He is a very stubborn boy. His
mother brought him to me three
years ago. I enrolled him in a
primary school and he is also my
apprentice.

He is in Basic 3 now whereas he
ought to have finished, but he is
dull. His stubbornness provoked me
to beat him up. I mean well for
him. He usually returned home late.

“That Sunday, I told him to wash
his clothes at the shop. He left home
and went somewhere else to play.

He came back in the afternoon and
I was angry with him. I told him to
raise a stone and assigned a boy to
flog him if he did not raise his
hands properly.

“He let the stone fall on the boy’s
head and that was why I beat him
up. I didn’t intend to harm his
private parts.

It was a mistake. I would have
taken him back to his mother, but
he is still receiving treatment at the
hospital and I want him to recover
fully,” he said.
Olaoye’s brother, Seyi, said the
matter had been resolved.

“That boy is too stubborn. He can
make you do what you don’t intend
to do. The police have resolved the
matter.”

The Lagos State Police
spokesperson, SP Dolapo Badmos,
promised to get back to
correspondent with comments on
the incident but had yet to do so as
of press time.

Source: PunchNg