Mary Timah, the 40-year-old trader and mother of three who tortured her 14-year-old son by burning him with a hot electric iron on suspicion that he stole GH¢20, has been remanded in police custody by the Accra Circuit Court.
She will reappear tomorrow, Wednesday, February 18, 2015.
The court yesterday held its proceedings in camera but an inside source told the Daily Graphic that the presiding judge, Mrs Rita Agyemang Budu, examined the boy, who admitted that he had stolen his mother’s money, dug a hole and hid it inside.
When asked what he used the money for, he answered that he had used the money in buying clothes, following which the judge was said to have asked him who normally bought his dresses for him, to which he had answered that it was his mother.
Timah, who appeared rather distraught in court, sat in a pensive mood in the main chamber of the court after the hearing of the case, awaiting the police to send her back into custody.
When the victim exited the courtroom with his father and the assembly member for their area, this reporter approached them to find out what had transpired in the judge’s chamber.
Regret The victim told the Daily Graphic that he had regretted reporting his mother to the police, adding, “Even this morning, it was my mother who gave me money to go and buy food.”
He said his mother had not done any such thing to him before, adding that he felt bad seeing her like that.
When this reporter attempted speaking to his father, he refused to comment, saying, “I will cry if I try saying anything.”
Meanwhile the assembly member for Osu Alata, the area where the family lives, Mr Hubert Kpakpo Garshong, described the action of the woman as regrettable, adding that even though he was of the view that she ought to be punished for her action, he expressed the hope that the punishment would not be custodial.
That, he said, would ensure that as breadwinner and caretaker of her home, she could resume her duties without the children suffering any trauma that would arise from a custodial sentence.
The Daily Graphic yesterday carried a story in which a 14-year-old boy had reported his mother to the Ministries District Police Station for allegedly burning parts of his body with a hot electric iron on suspicion that he had stolen GH¢20.
The boy claimed his mother first placed the hot electric iron on his wrists and while he was screaming for help, she positioned it on his face and neck.
Escape Neighbours and siblings of the boy banged on the door and pleaded with Timah to set the victim free.
But their pleas did not save the boy until he managed to escape from the barbaric act and dashed to the police station.
After the victim told the police about his ordeal, Timah was arrested and charged with the offence of causing unlawful harm.
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