A fifty-five-year-old U.S.-based Nigerian prison guard Victor Arinze Ochuba, has been arrested for attacking a female inmate who poured juice on face in Texas.
The arrest affidavit showed that Mr Ochuba, who was assigned to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice at the Hobby Unit in Marlin, entered a female inmate’s cell and punched her multiple times.
Mr Ochuba, employed by TDCJ in October 2020, was charged with official oppression.
The affidavit further indicated that the victim suffered swelling, redness and soreness to the left side of her head.
Sergeant Virginia Cobio and another inmate, who spoke with investigators over the development, said the temper rose after the inmate asked Mr Ochuba to use the phone and threw juice in his face when he refused.
Mr Cobio explained that Mr Ochuba entered the cell while angry and yelling before striking the victim inmate several times.
The victim also told investigators that she threw red juice at Mr Ochuba because he would not allow her to use the phone.
She added that she was removed from the cell after feeling pain in her head following the incident.
Mr Ochuba was booked into the Falls County Jail and had since been released after posting a $2,500 bond.
The latest incident adds to the list of Nigerian-born correctional officers arrested for various offences in the U.S.
In May, a Nigerian national serving as a correctional officer with the TDCJ, Ayodele Abiodun Afosi, was arrested after allegedly fleeing the scene of an accident.
Mr Afosi was arrested by law enforcement officers after allegedly causing more than $200 in damages during the incident but failed to stop and provide information.
In July, another U.S.-based Nigerian correctional officer, Bashir Oladimeji Lawal, also faced possible disciplinary action from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) over alleged public intoxication charge.