Tisheika Washington, Augusta, Georgia mother arrested burning 5 year old son with lit cigarette in repeat child abuse behavior.
A Georgia mother has been arrested after a 5 year old boy complaining of a ‘sore’ back during class, led to the discovery of a burn mark on his back after his mother burning the boy with a lit cigarette as ‘punishment’.
Tisheika N. Washington, 32, was taken into custody on Friday and charged with cruelty to children in the first degree in connection with the alleged act, the Augusta Press reported.
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.
Mom burns 5 year old with lit cigarette as punishment for ‘bad behavior’
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 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, according to WRDW.
But there was more.
The teacher told deputies that she had previously filed a report with the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) regarding the mother allegedly abusing her son after the boy confiding 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 Augusta 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 stated.
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, record cited by lawandcrime show. It was not immediately clear if bond for the mother had been set or if the parent had retained an attorney.
A regard of Tisheika’s Facebook profile revealed her to be a single parent of two young children and self described, ‘content creator’.
