Searing punishment costs woman son’s custody
Defendant also handed out suspended fine for causing child second-degree burns
Dubai: A mother who inflicted ‘second-degree’ burns on her son with a hot spoon to “discipline” him recently lost custody of him.
The Emirati mother claimed that her son’s classmates had been molesting him in the school’s washroom. According to court documents, the woman tried to convince her eight-year-old son that he should put an end to the abuse but when she failed she decided to discipline him.
The Dubai Appeal Court found the 31-year-old defendant guilty of assaulting her son and causing second-degree burns.
The court also fined her Dh3,000, but the presiding judge suspended the penalty for three years on the grounds of leniency.
Gulf News has learnt that the mother, who is divorced, had custody of her two sons, the eight-year-old who was subjected to the harsh punishment, and an 11-year-old.
Records said the boy’s father informed police as soon as he realised that his son had come to harm. He lodged a civil lawsuit before the Dubai Sharia Court accusing the mother of being negligent and sought custody of the children.
When the mother appeared before the Misdemeanour Family Court, she admitted to burning her son but said she only did it to discipline him and prompt him to confront his classmates who were molesting him. She claimed she was only trying to help her son.
“The court suspended the fine [Dh3,000] considering that the mother would not repeat what she did,” the judgement issued by the appeal court said.
Earlier, contesting the father’s lawsuit, the woman’s advocate said his client was a good mother and her children were living a stable and happy life with her. “She was disciplining her boy because his classmates constantly removed his clothes in the school’s washroom and molested him. My client did everything possible to convince her son to disallow his classmates from abusing or touching him. She complained to the school management, but when her efforts were in vain, she scorched her son’s backside in what she deemed would be disciplinary behaviour — we confirm that she did not have any criminal intention. It is unreasonable and unusual to accuse a mother of assaulting her own child,” the lawyer said.
However, the Appeal Sharia Court recently stripped the mother of custody of her two children. The court decided that the elder boy was old enough to start living with his father besides granting custody of the younger boy to the father.
