Cori Baynes

A 32-year-old moth­er ap­peared be­fore a San Fer­nan­do mag­is­trate yes­ter­day, charged with in­flict­ing griev­ous bod­i­ly harm on her ten-year-old daugh­ter. Dressed in a red shirt and black pants, Beena Ra­moutar looked blankly around the court­room when the mat­ter was called be­fore Deputy Chief Mag­is­trate Mark Welling­ton in the First Court. She was rep­re­sent­ed by at­tor­ney Sub­has Pan­day, while Sgt Joey Sama­roo pros­e­cut­ed for the State.

The charge read that on Au­gust 4, at La­dy Hailes Av­enue, Em­ba­cadere, she did ma­li­cious­ly in­flict griev­ous bod­i­ly harm on Lee­an­dra Khan. It is al­leged that Ra­moutar forced the child to hold a pot filled with boil­ing rice as pun­ish­ment for mis­be­hav­ing.

The child, who re­port­ed­ly sus­tained in­juries to her hands, is ward­ed at San Fer­nan­do Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal.

Pan­day, in his bail ap­pli­ca­tion, said that Ra­moutar who lived with her hus­band and chil­dren had no pre­vi­ous con­vic­tions or pend­ing mat­ters. "These are the kinds of cas­es that, as an at­tor­ney, you find your­self in a tight po­si­tion," Pan­day said. "As an at­tor­ney you have a du­ty to the court and to so­ci­ety." Welling­ton placed Ra­moutar on $15,000 bail to be ap­proved. The mat­ter was ad­journed to Au­gust 10 and trans­ferred to the Fourth Court.