Mother burns four-year-old son with hot fork

A woman who is charged with cruelty to a child after she used a hot fork to burn her four-year-old son across his back was sent for psychiatric evaluation when she appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court yesterday.

It is alleged that on the day in question, Nickiesha Beckford used a hot fork to brand the little boy in his back twice.

Her lawyer, William Hines, told the court that Beckford was trying to discipline her son who had just hurt another child.

"She was trying to scold the child," Hines said. "Her intention was never to harm the child. The father blow it up and cause it to be what it is now."

Presiding judge Chester Crooks countered Hines' argument, stating that the child's misbehaviour didn't mean that she should scold him in a cruel manner.

Hines also argued that his client was stressed at the time of the incident.

"I understand that she was at the Kingston Public Hospital for two weeks," Hines told the court.

Beckford was remanded in custody. She is to return to court on November 24.