A COVENTRY mother, who ‘viciously’ bit her son so hard through his blazer that it broke the skin, has had her children taken away from her and placed in foster care.
The 43-year-old woman, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her children, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to a child.
The boy and his younger sister are both with foster parents, with their mother now seeing them twice a week, a judge at Warwick Crown Court heard.
But after hearing that there are hopes the family will be reunited in about 12 months, Judge Sylvia de Bertodano gave the mother an eight-month prison sentence suspended for a year, with a ‘rehabilitation activity requirement.’
The 12-year-old boy caught the attention of staff last November when he appeared distressed when he arrived in school.
And when a teaching assistant asked him why he was upset, he revealed that his mother had bitten his arm that morning.
He said she had been agitated, and described it as ‘a vicious bite’ which had broken the skin even though he had been wearing his school blazer.
The police were contacted, and when he was interviewed he said his mother had also slapped him and tried to throw him down the stairs, which she denied doing.
Prosecutor Amy Edinborough said that as a result, the boy and his younger sister had both been placed into foster care.
She added that the mother had a conviction in 2007 for a similar offence when she had ‘backhanded’ the boy, causing his nose to bleed.
Richard Murray, defending, said: “We are dealing with a fairly isolated morning when things got too much.
“The previous matter was nine years ago, and was a single slap.
“This clearly passes the custody threshold, and if that was Your Honour’s ruling today, she could have no argument.
“But there is the relationship which one would hope could still be salvaged.”
Mr Murray said the two children live with the same foster parents, so are still together, and the defendant’s contact with them has been increased from once to twice a week.
Arguing there is hope the family will be reunited in a year, he added: “There is not a day goes by that she doesn’t regret her actions, and she has suffered punishment for it on every one of those days without her children.”
Judge de Bertodano said it was important to get the family ‘back on track’.
She told the mother: “You got angry with your 12-year-old son, and you bit him on his arm.
“But I suspect he would say the real injury to him was not the physical one, but the psychological one, because not only has he had to suffer his mother treating him in that way, he has now, as has his sister, been prevented from living with his mother for the last year.
“I know being a mum is stressful.
“I also know the fact that you lost your temper in that way does not mean you don’t love your children – I am sure you love them very much indeed.
“They have had their lives turned upside-down by this, as have you.
“I am not going to send you to prison today, because it seems to me it is in everyone’s interest that you have a chance of making this work again.”
