Woman to serve one year in prison for being cruel to son aged five

A woman was yesterday jailed for one year for torturing her son by burning his body.

The 27-year-old woman had been found guilty of assaulting her five-year-old son on April 1, 2017, at their home in Shimalabandu area, Lurambi.

Senior Resident Magistrate Josephine Maragia said in her judgment that the prosecution had proven its case beyond any reasonable doubt.

The court was told the mother of two burned her son on the stomach, hands and legs after finding him playing with his friends.

Children’s officers

The boy was rescued by children’s officers who were tipped-off by neighbours after the accused refused to take the child to hospital.

The minor, who gave an unsworn evidence, told court his mother had warned him not to play with other children.

On the material day, he was called into the house after spending time outdoors and beaten.

The child testified that his mother then tied him with a rope and hang him from the door. She placed plastic papers across his body and lit a fire on his stomach.

The boy told court that nobody came to his rescue, adding that he was occasionally beaten with a wire, a statement that was corroborated by his grandmother.

Burn wounds

Medical documents from the Kakamega County General Hospital indicated that the boy sustained serious burn wounds on his head, chest, stomach, hands and legs.

The magistrate dismissed the mother’s defence that her son got the burns after a stove exploded.

Ms Maragia said the evidence from four prosecution witnesses was consistent, credible and corroborative, adding that it remained unchallenged even during cross-examination.

“The complainant gave clear evidence with the innocence of a child. I find that there is no reason why he would lie to court,” she said.

A pre-sentence report by probation officers painted the mother as a cruel woman, who had unsuccessfully tried to abort the child and twice attempted to sell him.

The woman, who had worked in Saudi Arabia between 2014 and 2016, is said to have been married in Mombasa but separated from the father of her first born child, who took custody of his son after accusing the mother of neglect.

The probation report indicated that the burned child was still traumatised by his mother’s cruelty and was unwilling to continue living with her.

“The accused is a flight risk since family members don’t know her permanent place of abode. Her biological mother is not in good terms with the accused since she accosted her twice trying to sell the child,” read part of the report.

Abundantly clear

The magistrate said: “I have considered the pre-sentencing report and it is abundantly clear that the complainant is traumatised by the cruelty of his own mother. A non-custodial sentence would be unfavourable for her and she is therefore sentenced to one year imprisonment.”

The accused was granted 14 days to appeal.