Woman jailed, denies causing severe burns

A boy who was tied to a bed and had boiling water poured on him by his mother is the most damaged and saddest child an experienced social worker has met.

The boy now faces a lifetime of physical and psychological pain, while his mother still denies harming him.

The mother, who has permanent name suppression to protect her son’s identity, was sentenced in the Palmerston North District Court yesterday to eight years and six months’ jail.

She pleaded guilty to ill-treatment of her son by not getting treatment for the burns, but was found guilty after a trial in March before Judge Stephanie Edwards alone of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

The boy was taken to hospital in May 2019 with severe burns to 25 per cent of his body, including his genitals and buttocks.

The boy and the mother both told police the burns were caused by the boy spilling pasta water on himself five days before he went to hospital.

But he later told a caregiver and social worker he was tied down to a bed, with a plastic bag beneath him, and his mother poured boiling water on him from a kettle.

She treated the burns with bandages, honey, Vaseline and other products she regularly purchased from a local supermarket before the boy went to hospital.

A burns specialist found the burns probably happened about 11 days before the hospital visit, and believed they were more likely to have happened the way the boy described than by spilt pasta water.

His burns were so painful that hospital staff had to anaesthetise him when changing his bandages, something that would not have happened while the mother administered care at home.

‘‘The level of pain [the boy] ... must have been in while still at home, and in hospital, must have been harrowing,’’ the judge said.

In his victim impact statement, he said school pupils mocked his scars and he

needed to wear a pressure suit, while the burns still hurt. He would need regular operations as his body grew.

He had been diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder and suffered flashbacks.

A social worker who worked with the boy said he would struggle to find his place in general society and in his peer group as a result of the offending against him.

The judge considered manslaughter cases, including the deaths of Moko Rangitoheriri and Delcelia Witika, as well as various child abuse cases, while deciding the mother’s sentence.

The Crown wanted the judge to trigger section 8(c) of the Sentencing Act, requiring the maximum penalty to be imposed if the offending is within the most serious of its kind for the charge.

But the judge said the mother’s offending, which had a maximum penalty of 14 years’ jail, was just below that threshold. While the mother caused significant harm, it was not hours or days of violence against the boy.

The mother has trauma of her own. She suffered abuse as a child, her father was murdered and her relationship with her son’s father was violent.

The mother, when speaking to psychological experts, said she became pregnant with her son after being raped.

There was no mental illness with a causative link to the offending, the judge said, but the mother’s background did require a lesser sentence.

No minimum period of imprisonment was imposed, meaning the woman must serve one-third of her sentence before being eligible for parole.

‘‘The level of pain [the boy] . . . must have been in while still at home, and in hospital, must have been harrowing.’’ Judge Stephanie Edwards