Woman gets one-year jail for ‘torturing own infant’

An Arab woman, who poured boiling water on her infant’s private parts, was yesterday sentenced to one year of imprisonment. Family and Child Prosecution Chief Prosecutor Zainab Sulaiman Al Owainati announced yesterday that the woman was sentenced by the High Criminal Court, which also referred the case to the concerned civil court. Ms Al Owainati said the coroner’s report indicated that the baby’s injuries were caused by maltreatment and continuous physical abuse by the defendant (the mother).

The Chief Prosecutor added that the defendant had also previously assaulted the baby as shown in the reports. As reported earlier by Tribune, the 27-year-old woman has two children with her husband; an eight-year-old boy and the victim. The investigation documents revealed that the Arab woman had tortured her own 15-month-old baby girl.  The baby girl was admitted to hospital with second-degree burns in her private parts, behind her thighs, legs as well as a fractured humerus and a subdural haematoma. 

And it was the 27-yearold  woman’s husband who lodged the case against his wife, accusing her of beating and causing harm to their infant.   “My client is married to the defendant and they have a seven-year-old boy and a girl aged one year and three months,” the husband’s lawyer said.  “He had previously filed a case against his wife after their infant’s hand got broken. But his family intervened and the case got cancelled.”  

The woman said that the infant’s hand got hurt after she fell down while trying to walk, but her narration of events were not “believed” by her husband, who reported the incident to police.