In July 2020, the state police arrested the man and woman for mistreating their maid, Nneoma Nnadi, who was 10 years old.
The Enugu High Court, led by Justice A. C. Ogbuabor, gave Central Bank of Nigeria worker Jude Ozuogu and his wife, Ifeoma Ozuogu, each a 13-year prison sentence.
The two people were given jail time because they hurt a child in their care.
In July 2020, the state police arrested the man and woman for mistreating their maid, Nneoma Nnadi, who was 10 years old.
Neighbors said the couple severely tortured the victim because, they said, she dropped their baby at their home in Aku, in the Igbo-Etiti Local government area of the state.
People say that Nnadi was putting her mistress's baby to sleep around midnight by carrying her in her arms. The baby fell to the ground by accident.
Even though the baby didn't get hurt physically or internally, the couple is said to have punished the girl by burning her skin with a hot pressing iron and also drilling a nail into her head. They are said to have put pepper in the girl's vagina and locked her in the toilet because she wouldn't wash the dishes.
When neighbors heard the girl's cries, they came to her aid and rushed her to the hospital to get help.
Police were called, and the couple was taken into custody and brought before Justice A. C. Ogbuabor of State High Court 10 on three counts, including causing serious harm, giving a poisonous or pious substance, and using a child as a housekeeper.
In the case marked HE/121c/2020 between the State (the plaintiff) and Jude Ozuogu and Ifeoma Ozuogu (the first and second defendants), the court found them guilty. The way the couple treated the 10-year-old girl was wrong, so the court gave each of them 13 years in prison.
Justice Ogbuabor found the couple guilty on all three charges and gave them the right sentences. On count one, which was causing serious harm, they were given three years in prison.
On count two, which was giving someone a poisonous or harmful substance, the court gave the couple five years in prison. On count three, which was using a child as a housekeeper, the court also gave the couple five years in prison.
But the court said that the time the convicts had spent in jail from the day they were arrested should not be counted.
"All sentences will be served at the same time," the judge said.