by ‘Jola Sotubo

A female pastor in Bayelsa has been arrested by the police after reports that she injured her young niece.

Fine Oru, a pastor at the Heartbeat of God Bible Church in Yenagoa, the state capital, allegedly burnt Grace Opion, her 10-year-old niece, with a spoon.

Pastor Oru is said to have heated up the spoon and placed it on the young girl’s face thereby inflicting burns on her.

Daily Trust reports:

The pastor had left her 12 month old grandson in the custody of the girl when she left for Otueke on Friday for a burial but after returning, she realised that the little boy was very uncomfortable and had cried all night.

On Saturday morning she said she noticed that part of the boy’s face was burnt and he told her it was the girl that did it. According to her, when she asked the girl what happened, she said she slapped him with a spoon when she was cooking.

“I said okay, don’t worry. What you did to him, I will also do to you. As I was trying to do that she was struggling. My sister and I were telling her to keep her face steady so that the hot spoon will not touch all her face, but she refused. So the spoon burnt her face like this’’, the pastor narrated.

Neighbours said the pastor after this left the girl and her son for the market. The girl came out crying, attracting the attention of neighbours.

She told them that while cooking, the little boy picked the spoon where she kept it and placed it on his face. A neighbour alerted the police.

Police spokesman Alex Akhigbe said he was yet to be briefed after the arrest of the pastor and promised to monitor the case.