A 25-year-old cook has pleaded not guilty to causing harm to her 11-year-old son after appearing before the Ho Circuit Court.

The accused, Jemima Kwaku, a resident of Ho, is said to have inflicted severe burns on her son with a heated iron as punishment for losing his pen at school.

The accused is further reported by asaaseradio.com to have committed the act after questioning her son about the whereabouts of a pen she is said to have purchased for him.

The prosecution, led by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Noah Amuzu, told the presiding judge, Abdul Hakeem, that Jemima became angry when she realised her son no longer had the pen she had bought for him.

The boy explained that a classmate had borrowed it but forgot to return it, adding that he would collect it the next day.

Incensed by her son’s behavior, she is further reported to have locked him in the bedroom, where she plugged in a pressing iron.

When it became hot, she pressed it onto the boy’s belly, chest, lips, shoulders, backside, and other parts of his body.

The court heard that the accused later warned the boy not to tell anyone about the incident.

The matter came to the attention of the police when the victim was approached at school by his teacher, who noticed he had become quiet, an unusual behavior for the child. The boy then opened up and informed his teacher about the incident.

The teacher, in turn, reported the matter to the headmaster, who alerted the police.

The accused was arrested in July, when the incident occurred, and admitted in her statement to inflicting the wounds on her son following her arrest.

Her son, on the other hand, was taken to a medical facility for urgent treatment and is now in the care of social workers, asaaseradio.com reports.

Meanwhile, the accused has pleaded not guilty and has been remanded into prison custody until August 19, 2025.

MAG/AE

Meanwhile, watch the trailer to GhanaWeb’s upcoming documentary on teenage girls and how fish is stealing their futures below: