A middle-aged woman, whose identity is still unknown, has allegedly tortured and brutalized her four-year-old child to death in Akure, the Ondo State capital, disappearing to an unknown destination with the body.

The woman, suspected to be the mother of the child according to eyewitnesses, rushed the lifeless body of her daughter to Ondo State University Teaching Hospital, Akure Annex, on Wednesday night.

According to them, the woman reportedly brought in the girl-child dead into the hospital, with suspected marks of horsewhip visible on the girl’s body, showing constant laceration on the minor’s flesh.

Some members of staff of the hospital, who didn’t want their names to be mentioned, revealed that the woman escaped with the child’s body, which was brought to the Children’s Outpatients Department (COPD) of the hospital.

One of the workers recounted: “The woman brought in the girl to the hospital at the children’s emergency ward for treatment. As we tried to attend to her, we noticed that she had maltreated the girl to the point of death.

“If you see the body of the girl, it was a case of child abuse as there were serious marks of beating all over her. By the time the doctor on duty could rush in and attend to her, it was discovered that she even brought the child dead.

“The doctor had to quickly tell the woman that the young kid she brought to the hospital was dead already. Before you know it, the woman grabbed the girl and ran away from the hospital facility.”She added that one of the doctors, who was on duty when the incident occurred, confirmed the incident noting that the child was brought Dead on Arrival (DOA) by the mother.

The doctor, who also pleaded for anonymity, explained that “immediately she (the woman) brought in the child dead to the hospital, we tried to resuscitate her but there was no life again.

“And before we knew it, the woman grabbed the body of her child and ran outside the hospital facility. All efforts to trace her has since proved abortive because we did not know how she just managed to escape from the hospital.”

The Administrative Secretary of the hospital, Dayo Owoseni, disclosed that “I only heard about the incident this morning and we have called on the doctor on duty to come over and explain what happened to us.

“Although, the Chief Medical Director of the hospital is not currently around, the remaining top-level management staff are in an emergency meeting.”

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Femi Joseph, who confirmed the incident said investigation had already begun to unravel how it all happened, revealing that “we have already sent in some officers to go and investigate the case to know what actually went wrong.”

Joseph, however, added that there was no proper record of the case registered at the hospital but efforts were being made to track the woman and unravel the mystery surrounding the death.

It would be recalled that the Plateau High Court on Wednesday ordered that a 37-year-old woman, Adeyola Afonja, who allegedly beat her eight-year-old daughter to death for stealing N350, be remanded in prison custody.

The police charged Afonja, who resides in Etobaba Village, Jos North, with culpable homicide, an offence punishable with death if convicted. Justice S.P. Gang gave the order after the visibly distraught mother pleaded not guilty to the charge, stating that she only wanted to correct her child.

Earlier, the Prosecution Counsel, Inspector Onegbenoise Osho, had told the court that the accused person used a cable wire to flog her daughter in a bid to correct her after she had allegedly stolen N350 from her mum.