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Inset: Tisheika Washington (Charles B. Webster Detention Center). Background: Richmond Hill Elementary School (Google Maps).
A 32-year-old mother in Georgia has been arrested after she allegedly punished her 5-year-old son by burning him with a lit cigarette — for the second time.
Tisheika N. Washington was taken into custody on Friday and charged with one count of first-degree cruelty to children in connection with the alleged act, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
According to an incident report from the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, deputies on Thursday responded to a call at Richmond Hill Elementary School regarding a report of possible child abuse, Augusta CBS affiliate WRDW reported.
Upon arriving at the scene, deputies spoke to a teacher who informed them that one of her students had been complaining about his back hurting. When asked, the boy reportedly told the teacher that he had been burned.
The teacher then lifted up the child’s shirt and found what appeared to be a new circle-shaped wound on his back.
“[The victim] informed her that his mother, Tisheika Washington, had burned him with a lit cigarette as punishment for his behavior,” deputies wrote in the report, per The Augusta Press.
Additionally, the teacher told deputies that she had previously filed a report with the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) regarding Washington allegedly abusing her son after the boy told her his mother had pressed the lit end of a cigarette into his left temple.
Authorities said that the alleged burning of the child’s temple had not been reported to the sheriff’s office. However, when deputies took a closer look at the boy’s face, they reportedly saw a circular scar on his left temple that “appeared to be similar to the end of a cigarette,” according to the Press.
Deputies also reportedly noted that the boy’s temple wound appeared similar in size and shape to the new wound on his back. Additionally, the school nurse reportedly had experience working with patients who had suffered burn trauma and said she believed the boy’s back wound was in “multiple stages of healing,”
“This could be caused by multiple injuries occurring in the same spot over time,” the incident report states.
Washington was located at her home on Nordahl Drive, taken into custody, and transported to the Charles B. Webster Detention Center for processing, where she remained as of Monday afternoon, records show. It was not immediately clear if her bond had been set or if she had retained an attorney.
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