Bursar arrested for child abuse charges

Police in Ndu, Donga Mantung Division are currently investigating a child battering case that has left the population of the town and environs baffled.

According to classified sources, a certain Ngassa Vera, Bursar in one of the secondary schools in Ndu was arrested and detained before being granted bail on alleged child abuse/labour charges.

The story goes that Nyapa Stephane Parfect (10) according to what we gathered was brought in from Bangante-West Region by the said teacher (Bursar) to stay with her.

Instead of sending the child to school, the woman instead turned him into a sales boy. She gave firm instructions to the boy that he should never come back home with leftover.

Whenever he comes back home with leftovers, he is beaten and denied food. Neigbours say, very often the young man will cry throughout the night. In order not to be beaten, Stephane said he was forced to steal money and hide so that whenever there is leftover, he goes to the hideout and collect the money to complete his sales for the day.

Last week, the torture that the young boy had undergone exploded to the public eye when a passerby spotted a boy laying by the roadside on the ground begging for life.

“He was not able to talk and was crying helplessly” Jiti George-Manager of Savannah Radio Ndu who was called to the scene told this reporter. George said he further took the child to Ndu District hospital where Dr. Ndifor gave him some first aid treatment before he was able to talk.

The Divisional Officer for Ndu and the Senior State Counsel for Donga Mantung Division were alerted sources say. When the child was brought infront of the D.O for Ndu, he discovered that he had old and fresh brushes all over the body.

Sources linked to the DO’s office told us that he guardian was immediately summoned. To the greatest dismay of all, when the woman arrived, she refuted the fact that she has been beating the child. She even claimed that the child disappears and appears at home when he wants.

Yet, neigbours debunked the claims. When the child bag was searched, his notes showed that the last time he was in school was as far back as February 27, 2015.

The Divisional Officer for Ndu was very bitter due to the fact that not only was the boy undergoing serious beating, he was not also going to school. "You are a teacher and mother, so if you see that someone has abused your own child this way, what will you do" the DO asked Madame Vera.

She was immediately taken to the police station for further investigations. It is alleged that she was granted bail last Friday May 15 and is expected to appear infront of the State Counsel with the parents of the said child. The young boy we gathered was later taken to hospital and placed under the care of the mayor of Ndu.

It should be recalled that HOFNA Cameroon in collaboration with the US Embassy and the Mandela Washington Fellow early this year embarked on a wide sensitization campaign in Donga Mantung Division to reduce the phenomenon of child labour, abuse and trafficking.

For years credible reports of human rights abuses against children living under the care of guardians have emerged from the North West and West regions of Cameroon commonly considered as a hub by many. Tongues are still waging in Ndu as to why this Bursar of GHS Kakar was granted bail.

Besides, it is alleged that another Bursar whose school I have just forgotten wanted to play the devil's advocate in favour of the accused woman. It is alleged that he was the one that tied Stephane with robes.