CRUEL STEPMOTHER.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 3 April 1923, Page 7

CRUEL STEPMOTHER.

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BURNT BOY'S, FINGEES

TWO MONTHS IN GAOL,

A brutal method of punishing, her stepson, was,, according to- a Police Court case heard ;in Adelaide,, adopted by Mrs Beatrice Hehir, of Chapel Street,. Glen Osmond.. On. March 2, when she was requested by his schoolmaster to administer punishmept to him/ for haying stolen eightjpence from the. teaoher's desk, JVlrs Hehir replied in a letter to the headmaster that she would punish the boy,'and she enclosed eightpeuce. in restitution. Subsequently she took tlie lad,, and holding his fingers over a lighted candle - burnt eight of them, as she said, to-; represent the • eight pennies which he had stolen. The boy was severely burnt and suffered a great deal of pain. He was sent to bed without tea and to school the following morning Mdthout breakfast. Moreover, Mrs i Hehir refused to allow him to put band- j ages around the blistered fingers.; A policewoman stated that when she interviewed defendant the latter -said she thought >she was q\vite justified in having done what she had t© the boy. The- magistrate, in sentencing the v%'oman to two months' imprisonment, said she did not appear to be in any way sorry for what she had done, but seemed to have attended in a spirit of antagonism. There, was no excuse for such a- cruel method of punishment. The maximum penalty was twelve months' imprisonment or a fine of £100 ,or both. - -, .' ~ '■- Accused received the sentence witliI out showing any emotion.