Evil: A Young boy eye plucked out by kidnappers

A seven-year-old boy, Augustine
Bello, residing in Matari village in
Rigna district of Toro Local
Government Area of Bauchi
State has been thrown into
darkness for life by a fellow
villager who kidnapped him
from his grandmother’s house
and plucked his two eyes.
Augustine, now
receiving treatment at the Jos
University Teaching Hospital,
begged for his sight to be
restored so that he could see
what was happening around
him. Narrating the victim’s
ordeal, his brother, Yakubu
Bello, 45, said on October 17 at
about 5:00pm, a man,
Muhammad, also residing in the
same village came to their
grandmother’s house and on
seeing that Augustine was in the
house with their grandmother,
said he had come to ask for
okro seeds.
He was allowed collect the seeds
and he left. Shortly after,
Augustine’s grandmother left
the house to fetch firewood. By
the time she came back, the boy
was missing. She raised the
alarm and a search party was
constituted to look for him but
he could not be found that day.
Yakubu said their grandmother
insisted that the man who came
to the house to ask for okro
seeds just before she left to
fetch firewood should know
something about the
disappearance of the boy.
Neither the boy nor Muhammad
could be found that evening.
“It was in the morning of the
following day that Augustine
was found in the forest with his
face and body covered in blood.
When we saw him, we thought
he was dead and had gone to
report the matter to the village
head. From there, we went to
the police station.” With police
escort, Yakubu said they went to
pick what they presumed would
be the boy’s corpse only to
discover that he was still
breathing.
“When he gained
consciousness, we asked what
happened to him and he
narrated how Muhammad
seized him when his
grandmother was out and
carried him into the forest. He
said the man made a hole in his
stomach before he plucked his
two eyes. After that he lost
consciousness and did not
know what was happening to
him until he was found in the
bush. Yakubu, who said
Augustine was the 13th and last
child of their parents, said after
the police had taken their
statements, they took the boy to
the general hospital in Toro.
It was from there he was
transferred to Jos University
Teaching Hospital where he is
now receiving treatment. When
Muhammad was arrested, he
confessed committing the crime
but said he was hired by one
Idris to do the job. When Idris
was arrested, he denied sending
him but said before Muhammad
went to kidnap the boy he
hinted him about the evil plan
and asked him to come along
but he refused.
When asked why he did not
inform the police about it, he
said he did not see it as
necessary at that time. Idris was
last Tuesday sentenced to six
months imprisonment by a
magistrate court in Bauchi with
the option of paying N5, 000
fine for concealing information.
He was also asked to pay N20,
000 as part payment for the
boy’s treatment. However,
Muhammad is still being held in
prison custody while the case is
pending in court.