News: Dubai mother to be prosecuted for burning her daughter

Dubai Police said the assault on the African girl was one of two cases of parents abusing their children in the past two weeks

A mother is to be prosecuted for burning her daughter to teach her a lesson after the girl accidentally injured a sibling.

The six-year-old’s school raised the alarm when she turned up for class this month bearing multiple injuries.

Dubai Police said the assault on the African girl was one of two cases of parents abusing their children in the past two weeks.

The second case involved a 10-year-old Arab boy who arrived at school showing signs of physical abuse.

Details of the cases emerged as a senior official at the Ministry of Social Affairs revealed a study has found that 80 per cent of social workers at public schools in Dubai – employed to spot signs of abuse – are not doing their jobs properly.

Officers said that in each of the two cases parents claimed they were simply disciplining their children.

Speaking about the first case, Major Shaheen Al Mazmi, director of the Child and Women Protection Department at Dubai Police, said: “We found that the girl had multiple burns on her arm. The burns were made by using a hot metal object.”

Officers questioned the girl’s mother who admitted disciplining the girl. Al Mazmi said: “The mother claimed that she burned her daughter to teach her how it feels to be burned, as the girl had accidentally burned her younger sibling.

“We made a criminal case against her and will transfer it to prosecution to finish the investigation.”

Meanwhile, police said the 10-year-old boy was the victim of regular beatings.

Colonel Mohammad Al Murr, head of the Human Rights Department at Dubai Police, said: “His school contacted us when they suspected the boy was being regularly beaten by his parents.

“We sent a child specialist and an officer to the school to investigate and they found slap marks on his face.”. Officers questioned the mother and father, who claimed they were simply disciplining the boy.

Al Murr said: “His parents claimed that he was a bad boy and had not been studying, so they beat him. “We made the parents sign a paper, pledging they will not hurt the child again.”

Al Murr added: “We did not open a criminal case as the child did not have any injuries or broken bones.”

Police have warned parents about disciplining their children excessively, in light of the two cases.

Al Mazmi, head of the Child and Women protection Department at Dubai Police, said: “There is a difference between disciplining a child and abusing him. There are limits and causing serious injury or burning them is crossing that line.”

Police commended the schools involved for taking swift action.