Agatha Shagbaor, an aunt, has been arrested by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, Benue State, for allegedly assaulting her 11-year-old niece, PUNCH Metro reports.

It was gathered that Shagbaor assaulted the victim for allegedly shutting the door on the finger of one of her daughters.

It was learnt that the suspect locked the victim in their apartment at the Wurukun Akpehe community of Makurdi and beat her till her arm was dislocated.

A human rights activist, Ukan Kurugh, who spoke to our correspondent on Tuesday, said neighbours reported the incident to his team.

Kurugh noted that residents complained that the abuse had been going on for a while.

He said, “Shagbaor beat her niece for closing the door on the finger of one of her children and that left bruises on her body. When concerned neighbours appealed to her to stop the abuse, she took the child into the room, closed the door and beat her more, accusing her of reporting the initial assault.

“According to neighbours, the victim receives beating several times in the hands of Shagbaor, who is her aunt. She was rescued on Saturday and taken to a hospital and doctors are suspecting a case of dislocation in one of her hands.”

The activist said the Executive Director of the Community Links and Human Empowerment Initiative, Helen Teghtegh, contacted NAPTIP and the child was rescued.

The NAPTIP Benue Zonal Commander, Gloria Bai, who confirmed the incident, said the suspect was arrested and the victim was in a government shelter.

She said, “Currently, the woman is in our custody; she has been granted bail and if she meets the bail condition, she will go and we will do a proper in-depth investigation into the matter.

“We have started tracing the family of the victim, who has been discharged from the hospital. We are trying to establish her family background and carry out our investigation.”