A 53-year-old woman from the American city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, is at risk of life imprisonment for putting her son’s 2-year-old daughter for some minutes in a tub full of boiling water.
Kaylee Robinson, the victim, has been in the hospital for more than a week where she is receiving treatment for severe and excruciating third-degree burns. The injury is so severe that in the most extreme case, Kaylee’s feet have to be dropped off.
The shocking incident occurred on August 11, when Brittany Smith and her fiancé Kyle Vaughn (the son of the suspect, Jennifer Vaughn) went to a swimming pool with their other two children. Because the water there is too deep for a toddler like Kaylee, they decided to leave her at home. Smith’s future mother-in-law, as she had done many times before, would look after the girl.
“Stupid”
Back home, the parents found their daughter groaning with pain. When the mother asked Jennifer Vaughn for clarification, the woman said she had put Kaylee’s feet in hot water to calm her down.
The child is said to have been ‘boring’ in the absence of her father and mother. In disbelief, the parents saw that large blisters had formed on the feet of the crying Kaylee. The child was then taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital. She is still in the hospital for the time been. Brittany Smith, Kaylee’s mother, has since filed a complaint against her near-mother-in-law who in American media described as “horror mother-in-law” and even “a nanny from hell.”
Confession
The woman admitted that she wanted to “hurt Kaylee” because the child had a bad day. Smith is still in shock that her fiance’s mother was capable of such an extreme. “I really can’t think of any reason why someone, even if they don’t behave in an exemplary way, can do something like that,” she told Metro.
The woman has been in jail since her arrest and suspected of severe child abuse. If she is convicted, she risks a prison sentence between 15 and 80 years.
The excited mother, whom Jennifer Vaughn never wants to see again, today, gave a short update on the health condition of little Kaylee. The girl has had surgery twice in recent days. The skin of her thigh has to be attached to the burned feet under general anesthesia, and according to the doctors, several interventions are needed shortly to save them.
Kaylee hasn’t been able to walk since she sustained the injury. “My fiance and I, like the specialists, are very gloomy about a prosperous recovery. If the wounds start to infect, the drama is complete. Kaylee may have to miss her feet,” says the mother.
