An Ondo Magistrate Court sitting in Akure has sentenced a 23-year-old trader, Bose Arowosegbe, to three years imprisonment for pouring hot water on her neighbour, Mr. Imole Oluwajenyo.
Arowosegbe was convicted after she pleaded guilty to the lone count of assault slammed against her by the police.
The prosecutor, Inspector Taiwo Oniyere had earlier told the court that the defendant committed the offence on March 5, 2023, at about 10 am, in Sijuade area, beside Sunbeth hotel, Akure.
Oniyere alleged that the defendant viciously poured hot water on her co-tenant, Oluwajenyo, who in the process, sustained serious burns from his head to ribs.
According to the prosecutor, Arowosegbe got into a heated argument with the complainant after a disagreement in the compound which led to a quarrel between the two parties.
After the scuffle, the defendant went inside the kitchen to carry hot boiled rice and poured it on the complainant in his room.
The offence contravenes Section 355 of the Ondo State Criminal Code, Law of Ondo State, 2006.
The victim told the court that while he was in front of his room, she poured hot water on him and he was immediately rushed to the hospital.
“After the incident, I went to the police station to report, and she was arrested, but later given administrative bail. When she returned from the station, she was neither remorseful nor sober, instead she posted on social media that she had gone and come back,”
“I was left in pain in the hospital and none of her family members showed up to foot the bills, so all I need now is justice,” the victim said.
In his ruling, Magistrate O.L. Abu found the defendant guilty of the offence. He said the injury on the complainant is of high magnitude than the quarrel between them.
Abu said it is a fact that the complainant entered his room after the quarrel before the defendant inflicted the injury on him.
“Having admitted the commission of the offence, the defendant is hereby convicted and sentenced to three years imprisonment or to pay immediate damages of N500,000 to the victim,” Abu ordered.