Bus conductor assaults infant daughter because he wanted a boy

A 32-year-old man, Edet Asuquo is currently on the run, after unleashing a severe maltreatment on his daughter who was subsequently hospitalised.

Asuquo, a resident of Idi Araba area of Lagos State, slapped his three-year-old daughter when he could not bear that she was born a girl.

Having discovered that the baby’s mother who’s identified as Rosemary Kingsley, gave birth to a girl, Asuquo was said to have described her useless, threatening to kill the infant.

It was learnt that Asuquo and Kingsley, both indigenes of Calabar, Cross River State, were only dating when Kingsley became pregnant.

According to report, Kingsley moved to Asuquo’s apartment after the delivery of their baby.

Asuquo who is a bus conductor by profession was said to have been angry that his lover gave birth to a girl and not a boy as he expected, which resulted in frequent disagreements between them.

On January 10, 2018, the baby was reported to be hungry and was crying when the father allegedly slapped her.

She was said to have convulsed due to the severity of the assault and was rushed to a medical centre for treatment.

Some of the hospital workers reportedly called the attention of the Lagos State Office of the Public Defender to the matter, and the agency contacted the police at the Itire division. By the time the police got to the house, the suspect had fled.

A social worker with the OPD revealed that blood spurted out of the baby’s nostrils as a result of the injury she sustained, adding that the mark of the slap was visible on her cheek.

She said, “We gathered that the two lovers were not married. She sold plantain chips, while the man was a bus conductor. They just met on the road and agreed to date each other. She became pregnant a few weeks into the relationship. At the initial stage, the man didn’t want to take responsibility for the pregnancy. But after she was delivered of the baby, he bowed to pressure and allowed both mother and child to move in with him. They lived in a shop.

“According to the woman, the baby was crying that morning while the father carried her. He started abusing the baby and saying a girl would not be useful to him because he wanted a boy. She said he slapped the baby. At that point, the baby started convulsing. It was the neighbours who compelled him to get drugs for the girl’s treatment. She was later taken to a hospital. The mark of the assault is visible on the child.

“When the matter got to our attention, we mobilised policemen to the house. However, we were told that he had escaped. The police have promised to get him arrested for assaulting the innocent baby. Even the mother was being maltreated by Edet; he seized her phone.”