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Jan 15, 2008 6:29 pm US/Eastern
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Woman Sentenced To 6 Months For Scalding Boy
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
It's a punishment no child deserves--being shoved into a tub full of scalding water. Now a caretaker has been sentenced for what she did, but the victim's family says it's not enough.
Mike Hellgren reports why they feel she deserved more time behind bars.
The victim is a smart young man who described to
Eyewitness News the incredible pain he still lives with every day.
Prosecutors say after being scalded he was forced to do chores, despite first and second-degree burns. They asked the judge for more jail time, but the woman who plead guilty to assault was sentenced to just a few months.
Ten-year-old Diamonte Fairley is scarred for life. Inside a home in North Baltimore, police say the woman caring for him, Shamia Lawson, filled a bathtub with five pots of scalding water and pushed him into it as punishment.
Severe burns covered Diamonte's body, infected and oozing, yet Lawson did not take him to the hospital for days, and when she did, she lied about her name and his.
"I had so many IVs done. I swear, it felt like I was being injected with five swords to the gut," Fairley said.
"His toes may have to be amputated. He was scalded from the waist down. He may not be able to procreate without an operation," said grandfather Alvin Fairley, Sr.
"He was taped from his waist down in bandages. I can't remember how many surgeries he had," said Gwen Ray, who shares custody of the victim. "His feet are a mess."
Yet, when Lawson pleaded guilty to assault, the judge gave her a sentence amounting to just six months behind bars. Guidelines called for four to nine years.
"I think it's just not right, giving a child a third-degree burn from his waist down. She was scheduled to get six years," Fairley said.
"The prosecutor is bitterly disappointed in this sentence. This young child deserves justice," said Margaret Burns, city state's attorney spokesperson. "The system is broken and it is reflected in this type of case and others."
Lawson's attorney told
Eyewitness News the sentence was appropriate, that Lawson was an otherwise law-abiding citizen.
A Social Services caseworker even testified on behalf of Lawson's parenting skills and according to a published report, Social Services allowed Lawson's biological daughter to remain in her care while she was out on bail.
They're now considering whether to return the girl to Lawson's custody when she gets out.
As for Diamonte, his family says he's seeing a psychiatrist and has weekly visits to physical therapy.
According to a published report, Lawson said she never scalded the young boy as punishment. She says her apartment had problems getting hot water and that's why boiling water was added to the bath.
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