Mother lost temper and scalded toddler

A YOUNG woman yesterday pleaded guilty to assaulting her 14-month-old daughter by shoving her arm into a bucket of hot water when she lost her temper with the little girl as she tried to clean her kitchen floor.

The 19-year-old woman, who is from Africa, told doctors she slipped carrying a kettle of boiling water which spilled on to the child’s arm, but doctors were suspicious and alerted gardaí.

Sgt John O’Leary said the woman, who cannot be named to protect her daughter’s identity, admitted to losing her temper and to plunging the child’s arm into a bucket of hot water at her Co Cork home on November 1st, 2006.

Judge Patrick Moran heard that the child, who lives with her Irish father, has had five operations and three skin grafts and faces further operations into adulthood, as she is maimed for life and is likely to suffer from reduced limb growth.

Defence counsel Tom Creed SC said the only explanation for his client’s behaviour was her losing her temper. She had co-operated fully with gardaí and was remorseful.

The woman took the witness box and gave an undertaking that if the case was adjourned she would meet probation officers.The judge adjourned the case until next year.