A pastor has been arrested for scalding a 10-year-old boy with an electrical iron.
Pastor Emmanuel, who works with the Eagles Prophetic Gospel Centre in Gombe State, was paraded alongside 15 other criminal suspects.
The 34-year-old pastor is accused of child cruelty for inflicting physical injuries on 10-year-old Daniel James.
Pastor Emmanuel told Daily Sun that James was the son of an ex-prostitute who had become a born again Christian thanks to evangelism carried out by his church.
Pastor Emmanuel said:
“The 10-year-old boy committed a crime of stealing, which has been his habitual character. So, on that day, I took another dimension of punishment; I used electric iron to threaten him and it burnt him.”
He added that he took the kid to come and live with him after the church helped his mother find a place to live and a business to sustain herself and her elder son who is 19-year-old.
“They lived close to an Almajiri School and the boy always had a problem with the Almajiris. So, I took him to live with me. I made a mistake of not reporting him to the police. I always report his character to the mother before I decide to punish him on my own. In the church, everybody knew me to be a very disciplined man.”
Police spokesperson Obed Mary Malum confirmed that the suspect has confessed to using a hot electric iron to burn the 10-year-old boy in different parts of his body. The police says the preacher will soon be prosecuted in court.
