A breastfeeding mother, Zara Muhammad, has been hospitalised after she was allegedly scalded with hot water by her stepmother in the Kofa area of Maiduguri, Borno State.
The incident reportedly occurred on Sunday following a disagreement between the two women.
A neighbour, also identified as Zara, said residents were drawn to the scene by the victim’s cries for help.
She alleged that when she rushed to the house, she found the stepmother allegedly holding the victim down on the spilled hot water.
“I rushed to the house and found the stepmother pressing the girl onto the spilled hot water. I scolded her and used all my strength to pull her away,” the neighbour said.
She added that the victim had already sustained serious burns before residents managed to intervene.
Residents claimed that the victim had endured difficult circumstances after becoming pregnant and was allegedly abandoned by the father of her child.
They further alleged that her parents had urged her to terminate the pregnancy, but she declined.
Following the birth of her child, the residents claimed she was subjected to hunger and mistreatment whenever disagreements arose.
Recounting the incident, Muhammad said the trouble began when her young daughter attempted to enter her stepmother’s room.
According to her, the stepmother prevented the child from entering, prompting her to intervene and take her daughter away.
She said the disagreement persisted for several days before the stepmother allegedly threatened to stop providing food for her and her child.
Muhammad said she responded that she trusted God to provide for them, after which the situation allegedly escalated.
“When I replied that God would provide for me and my little girl, she rushed at me and pressed me into the boiling water she had spilled on the ground,” she alleged.
Witnesses also alleged that the victim was left in severe pain after the incident without receiving adequate medical attention.
However, the victim’s father denied claims that his daughter was neglected or that he attempted to shield his wife from the consequences of the alleged assault.
“She was even taken to hospital,” he said.
Following intervention by the Borno State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Hajiya Zuweira Gambo, a response team evacuated the victim to a medical facility where she was admitted for treatment.
The alleged assailant was also arrested and placed in security custody as authorities commenced investigation into the incident.