A woman who poured boiling water over her infant son has been jailed for nine years.
The 20-month old boy suffered permanent, disfiguring scarring as a result of the incident.
Mr Justice David Keane accepted the woman was suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the offence although it did not reach the necessary threshold for the defence of insanity.
He said mental illness may reduce culpability even when the offender acted deliberately.
The woman was originally charged with two counts of attempted murder on 9 October 2019 at her home.
The accused cannot be identified to protect her children’s anonymity.
Those charges were later dropped after she pleaded guilty to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to one of the two children.
She also pleaded guilty to producing a large kitchen knife in a manner likely to unlawfully intimidate another person on the same occasion. She also admitted falsely imprisoning a social care worker on the same date and location.
Mr Justice Keane paid tribute to the social care worker who brought the boy and his brother to safety after the incident for her “remarkable presence of mind” and for the courage she displayed in protecting the boys and getting them out of the house.
For full report see https://www.rte.ie/news/2022/1006/1327602-scalding-case/
