Stepmother burns five-year-old girl’s body for bedwetting in Bauchi

Barely one week after a housewife used a hot knife to inflict injuries on the private part of her 10-year-old sister-in-law for alleged witchcraft, another housewife, Rabi Nuhu, in the same Magama Gumau, Toro Local Government Area of Bauchi State, has allegedly brutalised the body of a five-year-old girl for alleged bedwetting.

The girl, a minor (name withheld), was said to have lost her mother about a year ago, forcing her to live with her father, Mohammed Umar, and his wife, her stepmother, but she has been experiencing violence as a minor.

Kabiru Mohammed Abdulkadir, a resident of the area and a human rights activist, narrated that the minor had been brutalised for about five days before it became known.

According to him, “To avoid issues with the stepmother, her father bought a separate mattress for her, but her stepmother didn’t stop the violence.”

He added, “The victim met her uncle to buy another mattress for her, saying that her stepmother had burnt her private part because she bedwets often. It was her uncle who escalated the matter and reported it to the Police.”

“We also gathered that the suspect normally transfers aggression between her and the victim’s father to her,” he added.

Speaking with the victim’s father, Mohammed Umar, who works with an online television station, he said that his wife had repeatedly complained about the child’s bedwetting, prompting him to buy a separate mattress to avoid punishment.

Mohammed Umar explained that he initially believed his wife’s claim that hot tea had spilled on the girl after noticing burns on her private part.

The Police Public Relations Officer of the command, CSP Mohammed Wakil, confirmed the incident, saying it was reported on 13 September 2025 at about 3:00 pm.

According to him, “The victim sustained burns on her lower abdomen, thighs, and buttocks.”

He added that the Commissioner of Police, Sani Omolori Aliyu, has ordered her immediate arrest and directed that the case be transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department for discreet investigation.