Mother gets six years for burning son

An Accra Circuit Court on Friday sentenced a 40-year- old mother, Mary Timah, to six years imprisonment for causing unlawful harm to her son.

Mary inflicted injuries on her 14-year-old son with a hot electric iron for allegedly stealing her GH¢ 20.

She pleaded not guilty to the charge of causing harm to the son.

The presiding judge, Mrs Rita Agyemang Badu, said Mary intentionally inflicted the wounds on her son because she claimed he had stolen her money but that was not the right way to punish a child for such a crime.

She said despite the fact that Mary was the biological mother of the child, she had no right whatsoever to do what she did, and as such deserved to be given a harsher sentence to serve as a deterrent to others.

“I would have given you a harsher sentence but for the fact that you are the biological mother of the victim, and doing so would create a vacuum in the home. I hereby sentence you to six years imprisonment to serve as a deterrent to others”.

Earlier the Prosecution, Police Inspector Kofi Atimbiri, told the court that the convict resided at Osu-Accra together with the victim and his two other siblings.

He said on Saturday February 7, the convict returned home and noticed that GH¢20 she had kept in her wardrobe had gone missing.

He said Mary, without any evidence, immediately accused his son as the one who broke into the wardrobe to steal the money.

He told the court that she then locked up the victim in a room and wickedly assaulted him by placing a hot electric iron on his cheek, ear, neck and hand which resulted in severe injuries.

The prosecution said the victim escaped  and reported the incident. He was  rushed to the Police Hospital where he was admitted for days.

Police Inspector Atimbiri said Mary was later arrested and charged with the offence of causing unlawful harm.