A heinous act. That's how Magistrate Gillian David-Scotland described the action of a Chaguanas mother she jailed for three years for burning her daughter's hand on a tawah. Kamla Ramcharan, 29, the mother of four, bent her head while her relatives cried out in the Chaguanas First Court when she was sentenced yesterday. Ramcharan admitted that she burnt the hand of her eight-year-old daughter as punishment for allegedly stealing money from a classmate. Police said the child was accused of stealing $5. In passing sentence David-Scotland scolded Ramcharan, saying, "That is a heinous way to punish a child. This is the child you gave birth to." She said the child was innocent and did not ask to be born. Her daughter, who was not in court, suffered third-degree burns to the left hand. Ramcharan pleaded guilty to the charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Outlining the facts, police prosecutor Sgt Jackman said on June 14, the child was at school when she was accused of stealing money from a classmate.
A teacher contacted Ramcharan who picked up her daughter from the Chaguanas primary school. While at their Railway Road, Longdenville, home, Ramcharan asked her daughter whether she had stolen the money. The daughter denied it. The prosecutor said Ramcharan then lit one of the burners of the stove on which she placed a tawah (used in making roti). He said Ramcharan placed her daughter's left hand on the hot tawah. The child tried pulling away, he said, but was overpowered by the mother. He said the mother then removed the tawah and attempted to put her daughter's hand over the flames. The child screamed out and the mother released her. On June 19 the child's father was informed of the incident and went to Ramcharan's home and took the child for medical treatment. She was warded at the Paediatric Ward of the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex at Mt Hope and a report was made to the Chaguanas Police Station.
When confronted by police complainant acting Sgt Susan John at her home on June 21, Ramcharan said, "I not sorry for what I did. I sure she not going to steal again." She was arrested and charged. The tawah was also produced in court. Ramcharan, who was seen wiping her eyes and shaking her head when sentence was passed, was represented by attorney Edmund Subryan, who pleaded for leniency. He said Ramcharan may have reacted "too strongly," but it was the third time the child had been caught stealing. He said Ramcharan and the child's father had separated a long time ago and he did not play a role in her life. Saying that Ramcharan had struggled to care for her, he said, "She tried her best to bring up this child." Ramcharan has three other children, whose ages range from seven to 14. Declaring she would try to be as lenient as possible, David-Scotland said she considered Ramcharan's guilty plea and her clean record. However, she noted Ramcharan's lack of remorse when confronted by the police and that her daughter had struggled to get away from her. The maximum penalty for the offence is ten years.
