Po­lice have de­tained a woman for al­leged­ly lock­ing her two young sons in a dog ken­nel at their home.

In­ves­ti­ga­tors said the 40-year-old woman, who is a sec­ondary school teacher, was ar­rest­ed at her home by of­fi­cers of the South­ern Di­vi­sion Spe­cial Vic­tims De­part­ment on Wednes­day night.

Po­lice sources said her ar­rest stemmed from a re­port made by the chil­dren’s fa­ther at the St Mar­garet’s Po­lice Sta­tion in Au­gust this year. The fa­ther claimed that his six-year-old son com­plained about the way his moth­er was dis­ci­plin­ing him and his sev­en-year-old broth­er.

The chil­dren claimed that some­time last year their moth­er locked them in the dog ken­nel and base­ment as pun­ish­ment. 

The moth­er was in­ter­viewed by SVD of­fi­cers at the Gas­par­il­lo Po­lice Sta­tion yes­ter­day and has de­nied the al­le­ga­tions. 

The woman was still de­tained up to last evening as in­ves­ti­ga­tions con­tin­ued.