Court adjourns torture case trial to Sept 16

Manama : The High Criminal Court has adjourned the case of a woman accused of torturing her own infant for a review until 16 September 2018. Police arrested the 26-year-old Arab woman for her alleged involvement in torturing their infant girl following an investigation into a complaint filed by her husband. The 15-month-old girl is hospitalised with second-degree burns in her private parts and legs. According to doctors, she also had a fractured humerus and is diagnosed with a subdural hematoma. 

The couples, according to court files, has two children, a 7-year-old boy and the infant girl. According to the husband’s lawyer Khalifa Al Shajra, this, however, is not the first time the woman was caught mishandling their baby girl. Citing a complaint filed, the lawyer told the court that the woman, in an earlier incident, caused a fracture to the infant’s hand. The complaint, however, was withdrawn due to family’s intervention. 

The woman, however, rejected the allegations and told the court that the incident occurred when she accidentally fell down. Citing another incident, the lawyer further told the court that the woman this time inflicted second-degree burns on her baby and also tried to hide it from her husband by covering the baby with a blanket. The woman reportedly told her husband that “the baby was suffering from a fever.”

However, the baby was soon taken to a hospital after the husband found her in a serious condition with burns all over her body. The lawyer informed the court that the infant is now facing a 10 per cent permanent disability. However, the woman told the court that it was just an accident and happened while she was “trying to shower her.” “I failed to notice that the water tap was pouring hot water. I tried to treat the burns with tea and olive oil,” the 26-year-old Arab woman told prosecutors.  Her statement was, however, dismissed and she was referred to trial for torturing and causing harm to her infant.