A babysitter, who caused the death of a four-year-old boy by submerging him in a bathtub filled with scalding water, has been sentenced to seven years in prison.
The High Criminal Court also fined the 25-year-old Thai woman BD100.
The toddler’s 28-year-old mother, who along with the babysitter, was residing in the country illegally, was also sentenced to three years in prison and fined BD100 for neglecting the child and his twin brother.
Both women will be deported after they complete their sentences.
The incident occurred in March when the babysitter reportedly forced the half-Bahraini, half-Thai child named Hassan to stay in the tub filled with extremely hot water, suffering burns that covered 17 per cent of his body.
The accused denied intentionally harming Hassan, claiming that one of the boys had turned on the hot water tap when she left the bathroom to prepare their clothes.
She also denied charges of mistreating and neglecting the siblings, but did admit to sex work charges.
She claimed that she heard screaming from the bathroom after 20 minutes, took Hassan out of the tub and covered him in aloe vera gel, then dressed him up.
However, he continued to cry out in pain, she told the court, so she called his mother, who took him to hospital. His twin brother, Husain, was not injured.
A medical examiner’s report suggested that the boy’s burns were not an accident, stating that the child did not have any disability that would have prevented him from exiting the tub to avoid the pain.
Based on the spread of the burns, it became evident that someone must have intentionally submerged the boy in the hot water.
It was later revealed that the burns caused infections and led to the failure of the kidney, circulatory system, respiratory system and other organs.
The burns were primarily located on the lower limbs, with some superficial burns on the face and body. Doctors decided to perform wound debridement, which is the process of removing dead tissue from wounds.
Although the boy was in a coma and suffered from a brain haemorrhage, doctors decided to carry out a skin graft to close his open wounds, and also performed plastic surgery on the burns, which began healing.
The boy further underwent dialysis, which led his condition to improve and stabilise for about three months.
On the day he died, the child’s blood pressure suddenly dropped at 6am. Doctors performed chest compressions, and he regained his pulse after 10 minutes, but eventually lost his pulse again, and was pronounced dead at 7.35am.
In prosecution hearings, the mother admitted to neglect charges and also on relying on sex work despite being reportedly married to a Bahraini.
Hassan died in Salmaniya Medical Complex, where he was receiving treatment for the burns and injuries suffered, almost six months after the incident.
According to the death certificate, Hassan died of multi-organ failure and septic shock in a paediatric intensive care unit on September 19.
He appeared to have no second name, according to documents submitted by the prosecution to the court, and his nationality was mentioned as ‘unknown’.
Proceedings had to be placed on hold to allow the Public Prosecution to conduct further investigations and obtain a detailed autopsy.
The babysitter was originally accused of child abuse, and with the child’s death, was changed to manslaughter.
A Public Prosecution memo stated that the babysitter was being charged with assault leading to death.
The defence team tried to shift the blame to the mother, claiming that she only came to pick up her child eight hours after he sustained burn injuries.
The lawyer also claimed that the mother did not come to visit her children for an entire month.
After further deliberation, the court ruled both of them guilty, the babysitter for manslaughter and negligence charges, and the mother for negligence.
nader@gdnmedia.bh
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