Mother claims scalding 'accident'

The woman told the court she would never stop loving her son

A mother accused of pouring a kettle of boiling water on her five-year-old son has told a jury she would never hurt him to get back at his father.

The 35-year-old from Cardiff said she had boiled the kettle to pour on an ants' nest at her kitchen door.

The boy, now 17, suffered 20% burns in the alleged attack and said he was still full of rage about what happened.

His mother denies two counts of causing grievous bodily harm at Cardiff Crown Court and the case continues.

Giving evidence, the woman, who cannot be named, said she had been stressed on the morning before her son was scalded, in October 1995.

Moments before it happened she screamed and swore at her son and younger daughter, telling them to "shut up".

I was terrified my son would be taken from me. Mother accused of scalding son

She said her son had kept asking where his father was. She no longer lived with him and he had failed to collect him.

"I probably said the words [their father] didn't deserve them and he was cruel for letting them down," she said.

"It was upsetting me because I couldn't answer his questions. The reason he was asking for him was because he hadn't turned up.

But the woman said she would never hurt her son to get back at his father, and she denied telling him "now your father will want to see you" before pouring the boiling water over him.

She said when she turned around with the kettle in her hand she felt it bump into something and come out of her hand.

'Jumped up'

She said she looked after her daughter who started crying and whose hair was wet from the water.

But she did not know at that point that water had gone on her son, as he had run into the living room straight away.

Under cross-examination, the mother admitted originally lying about how her son was burned.

She admitted initially telling people the kettle had been on the work top when her son - who was playing at being Power Rangers - jumped up and pulled it on top of himself.

"I lied about the kettle and said I didn't have it in my hand," she said.

"I was terrified my son would be taken from me."

Asked by prosecutor Michael Mather-Lees what she had told her son to stop him telling the truth, the woman replied: "Nothing".

Kill herself

Defending, Lucy Crowther said:" It's been suggested that before and after [your son] was burnt, you were not only beating him but threatening him to keep his silence.

The woman cried and she said:"No I wasn't. I loved him with all my heart and I'll love him until the day I die.

"It doesn't make any difference what happens in this courtroom. I'll never stop loving him, never."

Her son suffered burns to his shoulders, neck, chest and torso in the incident.

He said he did not tell anybody what his mother had done until autumn 2004, because she had told him she would kill herself if he did.

The teenager told the court: "She called me out the kitchen and said: 'Sorry, I've got to do this' and tips the kettle over my chest.

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

The boy said he felt from a young age that he was not wanted and that his mother "battered" him nearly every day from the age of two to seven.

The trial continues.