A 14-year-old girl identified as Desola Adeoye has reportedly committed suicide in Shogunle community, Lagos.
According to the Vanguard, the incident happened on Tuesday, August 22, 2023.
Desola reportedly drank insecticide following the gruelling ordeal she was put through by her father, Sunday Adeoye, and his wife.
Reports indicated that the girl returned from summer school and was confronted by the stepmother over an unknown infraction. The stepmother was said to have threatened her that she would report her to her father upon his return from work.
Worried by the threat, Desola sneaked out of the house and drank the insecticide kept in the house. She was reportedly rushed to a nearby private hospital where she gave up the ghost.
When her father came back, he quickly retrieved her lifeless body from the hospital, took it back home with the intention of burying her secretly. This was however stopped by police operatives from Shogunle Divisional Police Station, who were alerted by neighbours.
A neighbour who confirmed the torture that Desola and her siblings have been passing through told the publication:
“The late Desola and her two younger sisters were regularly subjected to domestic violence by their biological father and stepmother every time they made a mistake.
“Shogunle Community Development Association in Oshodi, CDA, had, on numerous occasions, cautioned their father and stepmother to stop the physical abuse unleashed on their children especially late Desola Adeoye.”
Chief Operating Officer of Advocates for Children and Vulnerable Persons Network, Mr. Ebenezer Omejalile, has called on Lagos State government, the Nigeria Police and Nigeria Bar Association to rescue the remaining two children still under the care of the couple and also get justice for the late Desola.
