Derek Achong

A 29-year-old moth­er re­mains in po­lice cus­tody af­ter she se­vere­ly burnt her eight-year-old daugh­ter's hand on a heat­ed tawah (iron plat­ten) when she learnt the child was be­ing ac­cused of steal­ing $5 from a class­mate. Po­lice sources close to the in­ves­ti­ga­tion said the child, who at­tends the Mon­trose Vedic Pri­ma­ry School, was caught last week Thurs­day steal­ing the mon­ey from a school bag of one of her clas­mates. The girl's moth­er was sum­moned by the prin­ci­pal of the school and told about the in­ci­dent. The moth­er re­port­ed­ly took the child home where she heat­ed the bak­ing plate and pressed the child's left hand to it for 'a cou­ple' min­utes. Po­lice were first con­tact­ed yes­ter­day af­ter the child's fa­ther, who is sep­a­rat­ed from the moth­er, vis­it­ed the woman's home.

Po­lice said that on see­ing his daugh­ter's in­juries, the fa­ther rushed the girl to the Er­ic Williams Med­ical Sci­ences Com­plex at Mt Hope. Doc­tors lat­er told po­lice the child had not re­ceived med­ical treat­ment for the burn for over a week since the in­ci­dent. Up to late yes­ter­day, the child re­mained ward­ed at the hos­pi­tal re­ceiv­ing treat­ment for se­vere third de­gree burns to the hand. While be­ing ques­tioned by in­ves­ti­ga­tors yes­ter­day morn­ing the girl told po­lice she lent her class­mate the mon­ey but de­cid­ed to steal it back af­ter her friend re­fused to re­pay her. In­ves­ti­ga­tors con­sult­ed of­fi­cers of the Po­lice Ser­vice Le­gal De­part­ment yes­ter­day to as­sist in de­ter­min­ing what charges should be laid against the moth­er. She re­mained de­tained at the Ch­agua­nas Po­lice Sta­tion up to last night. Se­nior Supt De­o­dath Du­lalchan and Sgt Su­san John are in­ves­ti­gat­ing the in­ci­dent.