Boy 'said burns were deliberate'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/wales/6246714.stm

Version 0 of 1.

A mother accused of pouring boiling water on her son told the boy's father she did not know why she did it, Cardiff Crown Court has heard.

The 35-year-old woman from Cardiff has denied two charges of causing grievous bodily harm to her son, who is now 17.

She has told the jury the scalding in October 1995, when he was five, was an accident.

The court heard that years later the boy told his father the scalding had been deliberate. The case continues.

The boy's father, who is now separated from his former partner, told the jury he had initially been told his son had been hurt in an accident while he was imitating the television programme Power Rangers.

But he told the court his son had revealed the incident had been deliberate when he moved in with him about five years ago.

Under questioning from Michael Mather-Lees, prosecuting, the man said: "He sat me down, and he said: 'You know how I got burned?' and he said: 'It wasn't an accident. My mother did it. On purpose."'

'Rage'

The boy's father also told the court that his son had told him his mother had urged him to kill himself on a previous occasion because "nobody loves him".

The man told the court that, after listening to his son's account of the scalding, he had phoned his former partner.

He said: "I was shouting down the phone. She was just saying it wasn't true. I kept asking her: 'Why? Why? Why?'."

"The last words I heard off her was: 'I don't know'."

The man then told the court he had put the phone down.

Earlier, the jury heard the mother had told friends that she could not cope and her son had been "doing her head in".

On Monday, the teenager told the court he was "full of rage" after suffering burns to his shoulders, neck, chest and torso.

He said he had not told anybody the scalding was deliberate until 2004, because his mother told him she would kill herself if he did.

His mother denies grievous bodily harm with intent and inflicting grievous bodily harm. The case continues.