Pregnant Abia civil servant burns house help’s butts with knife

A pregnant woman in Abia State has allegedly used a red-hot kitchen knife to burn the buttocks of her housemaid, causing her serious injury.

The suspect, Mrs. Ogechi Maxwell, a mother of three, hails from Obingwa Local Government Area of the state.

Maxwell, who owned up to the crime before Daily Sun, said that she put the knife on a stove and after it became red-hot, she used it to burn the buttocks of her 11-year-old maid, Mary Alexander, for not telling her where she usually went each time she sent her on an errand.

Another ‘crime,’ which Mary committed, that made Maxwell to burn her buttocks with the hot knife was that she did not understand English, and so there was communication breakdown with other members of the family.

Speaking to Daily Sun at the state police headquarters, Umuahia, where she was paraded by the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Anthony Michael Ogbizi, Maxwell said that whenever she sent the girl on an errand, she would not come back on time.

“So, I was trying to get her to say the truth of what she was doing and where she was going each time I sent her on an errand. In an effort to get the truth out her, I put the knife on a stove and when it became red-hot, I used it to burn her buttocks. I was trying to make her talk; she does not understand English. And she did not say the truth and I did what I did to know if she would tell me the truth. If I sent her on errand, she would stay for about an hour before coming back and I wanted to find out where she used to go or stay each time she went out.

“I have been living with the girl for eight months now. I have three children and she stays with them. She doesn’t understand English or Igbo. When I brought her, we arranged that she would stay and start school by September so that she would know how to communicate. She is from Plateau State; I got her through her brother there.”

After the incident, she ran away and later she came back with someone she said is her brother. The incident happened on August 8, 2018. I work as a civil servant at Ministry of Public Utilities. I have regretted my action now. I am telling the authorities that I am so sorry and that I did what I did out of anger. I live with my husband. I have pleaded to her to forgive me and she said that she has forgiven me. I will advise other housewives to be careful and slow to anger on the way they deal with their house maids.”