Mother 'emptied kettle onto son'

The boy was scalded in 1995, the court heard

A mother deliberately poured boiling water over her five-year-old son, Cardiff Crown Court has heard.

The boy, who is now 17, gave evidence against his mother via a video link. She claims the scalding was accidental.

The teenager told the jury he was "full of rage" after suffering burns to more than 20% of his body.

The woman, 35, from Cardiff, who cannot be named, denies grievous bodily harm with intent and inflicting grievous bodily harm. The case continues.

Prosecuting, Michael Mather-Lees, said: "It is the prosecution's case that the defendant deliberately emptied a kettle of boiling weather over her little boy, and deliberately and seriously scalded the child."

The jury heard the boy suffered burns to his shoulders, neck, chest and torso in the incident on 19 October 1995.

The boy - whose parents are now separated - did not tell anyone the scalding was deliberate until 2004 because he said his mother told him she would kill herself if he did, the court heard.

Mr Mather-Lees also said that, when the boy told his father that it had been deliberate, the father had rang his former partner and her response was "I don't know why I did it".

Mr Mather-Lees told the court that, when she was interviewed by police, the mother had said she had collided with her son while he had been playing and water from the kettle she was holding had gone over him.

Video interview

The jury was shown a police interview with the boy from February 2005, in which the boy said he had seen his mother boiling the kettle "three or four times".

"She called me out the kitchen and said 'Sorry I've got to do this' and tips the kettle over my chest," he said in the video.

"She said, 'now your effing father will come and see you'."

Defending, Lucy Crowther, asked if it was fair to say he was "full of rage", to which the boy replied "Yes".

He added: "I'm full of anxiety every day of the week. All my head wants to do is explode and it only wants to explode on one woman and she's in this court case now."

The teenager also said he had been "battered" by his mother frequently but was too scared to tell anyone.