Mum jailed after branding smiley face on toddler’s cheek with cigarette lighter

A mother has been jailed for four years after branding her toddler on the face with a cigarette lighter. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was also convicted of neglect after failing to seek medical help for the burn.

The 24-year-old was accused of branding her 16-month-old baby’s cheek with a lighter and two other counts of child cruelty, dating back to May 2012. She denied the three counts.

During sentencing today at Leicester Crown Court, she sat emotionless in the dock as the judge summed up.

“You gravely abused your child,” Judge Philip Head said. “There's only one word for that [mark on your child’s face]: branding. You branded your own daughter's face in an area that will be visible for the rest of her life.

“You branded your child in a deliberate and premeditated act. It was wicked.”

He added that he was unsure as to whether the mother had set out to cause her daughter pain but said she acted out of “curiosity and total indifference to the pain demonstrably being inflicted upon her.”