SHOCKING CRUELTY TO A CHILD

Temuka Leader, Issue 408, 5 July 1881, Page 2

SHOCKING CRUELTY TO A CHILD

The Ararat Advertiser supplies the following particulars of a shocking case of cruelty to a child which took place about the middle of May, at the residence of a selector named Robert Malcolm, living about ten miles from Warracknabeal, but which waS only brought to light a few days since, an inquiry being held into the matter by Mr J. H. Alley, P.M. of the ; district“ The evidence disclosed a state of things the existence of which seems almost incredible within the pale of civilisation. A little boy, seven years old* named Robert Malcolm, appears to have been deliberately placed on the fire by hia. father, and has sustained such injuries that, should he escape with his life, ha will be a cripple for the rest of his days. The injuries are of such a nature that the doctor tells us they could not have been sustained by merely fading into the fire, but point to the fact of the child being actually placed upon it in a. sitting pos'ture, the flesh on the posterior and the back of the legs being charred like the cracknels of pork. A portion of this burnt flesii was removed in the course of medical treatment, and was placed in spirits for preservation- Notwithstanding the intense suffering which these injuriea must have occasioned, and the statement of the doctor that no one could endure them without uttering screams, that the child must have cried for 48 hours, and that it was impossible for the sufferer to sit down, the sisters asserted that the little fellow never complained, never cried, and sat down just as usual. The ignorance of the girls, apart from religious subjects, was something lamentable. In fact, it is said they neither see nor talk to anyone—not a human being havnig crossed Uve threshold of their home.” The father was committed for (rial at the nex t Ararat general sessions.